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PRICE, ONE DOLLAR, 

TIES! IE 

AND 

MEDICAL GUIDE. 

THE MOST WONDERFUL AND ENTERTAINING BOOK EVER 

PUBLISHED, CONTAINING CURIOUS AND MARVELLOUS 

DISCLOSURES, PRACTICAL HINTS OF USE IN 

LOVE AND COURTSHIP. 

ADVICE FOR ALL CONTEMPLATING 



How to Prevent an Increase of Family : 
The Detection, Prevention and Cure of 

ALL PRIVATE DISEASES, etc, etc, etc. 

BY A. Gk LEVY, M. D. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. £^£ ' 

NEW-YORK. 

1860. .<* ' 




Price, One Dollar, sent free of postage on receipt of price. 



^ 

9*\ ^» N> 



V 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 
A. G. LEVY, M. D. 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
for the Southern District of New-York. 



Fourth American Edition. 



PREFACE. 



In offering this work to the public, the author would Btate, that 
never before has so much valuable knowledge been comprehended 
in so small a compass, and no man can thoroughly appreciate the 
amount of experience, deep study, persevering research required to 
elaborate a treatise like this, as it penetrates the most profound mys- 
teries of Nature, and furnishes the key to unlock every secret. The 
matter comprising this volume, might easily have been extended, to 
a ponderous book, had not the author been aware of the wants of the 
public, and confined his explanations and remarks, to the narrowest 
limits connected with a proper understanding of each subject. With 
this book at hand, you are precisely in the same condition that you 
would be, in communicating with your dearest friend. Nay, the 
book is better than any friend could be to you, for it responds to 
quesiions which you are continually asking in your own heart. It 
tells you many things of which you can gain a knowledge through 
no other source, and gives the reader an insight into the nature and 
treatment of diseases, which no man except our author could possibly 
have made known, had he not, together with a genius of the loftiest 
character, enjoyed the opportunities of a life long experienced of 
travel, in every known portion of the habitual globe, and also an in- 
timate association with, and minute observation of the manners and 
customs of its many different people. Although a thorough-bred phy- 
sician, and receiving his diploma from one of the best institutions in the 
land. Dr. Abraham G. Levy was compelled to discard the old sys- 
tem as totally unworthy of the age we live in. And in his practice, 
to confine himself exclusively to the Herbal System of treatment. 

It cannot be denied, that medical science, as it now stands, is mis- 
erably imperfect, and full of theoretical and practical errors. The 
free intelligence of the age — the progress of research and science — 



IV 

are daily detecting the snocking errors and outrages of the olden 
schools. Honor, truth, justice and benevolence, all demand that an- 
tiquatel falsehoods should be contented with scorn, and improve- 
ments presented that can stand the closest tests of the most extensive 
experience. The public has become tired of the high pretentions 
and pedantic learning, but unsatisfactory results of medical science. 
Indeed, not only have the public become weary, but physicians 
themselves have experienced weariness and disgust. Many abandon 
their profession, because the public have not appreciated and re- 
warded their labors, while many have abandoned it also from a total 
dissatisfaction with its power, under the system they have studied, 
to relieve human suffering. Yet the medical profession is almost 
everywhere lamentably crowded. The community is so supplied, ad 
nauscum, with practitioners of various sorts, that the sending forth a 
new crop of young physicians from our medical colleges, has be- 
come a standing occasion for jest. Though these young men may be 
possessed of unquestioned talent, and thoroughly educated in the 
most famous schools, they will never meet with appreciation and 
success, so long as they adhere to exploded authorities, and narrow 
themselves down to the " five drug' 7 routinism of the most " illustri- 
ous" practitioners of the present day. 

In the following pages, the great laws of life and health are dis- 
cussed, and the proper treatment of disease indicated. For every 
disease, there exists a remedy, and this may be had without recourse 
to minerals, as will be clearly shown. In this book, I have discard- 
ed, as much as possible, the use of terms which nobody but the pro- 
fessional man can understand. I h tve written down to the compre- 
hension of all. I have sought to convey information, regardless of 
elegance of diction, or the beauty of my periods. 

I have endeavored to discuss the great question of medical and 
moral reform, in a plain, convincing, practical manner. The great 
enemies of mankind are Disease, Error and Prejudice — I oppose to 



these Truth, Nature and Experience, with Light and Love as adjuncts. 

Not only in medicine, but in the moral sciences, are we befogged, 
depraved, and inconsistent. We have cast nature aside, and em- 
braced artifice. It is plain enough to understand our beautiful des- 
tiny, both as it is affected by the present and the future. Nature 
owns no mystery to which she has not furnished a key, and if we but 
search faithfully, industriously, and with an eye single to our pur- 
poses, we may discover the clue to any singularity under Heaven. 
I have searched for, and I have found the key to the mystery of dis- 
ease — to the mystery of Want and Poverty — to the mystery of gen- 
eral unhappiness. I unlock those mysteries in these pages. Take 
this book, therefore, and read it carefully. Give heed to its contents 
for every line thereof affects you personally. Read it calmly, deliber- 
ately, studiously, and without prejudice, and after you have read it, 
I fear not your verdict as to its merits. 

Here I would caution you to beware of the vile and sickly imita- 
tion of this book, with which the United States is flooded. Unprin- 
cipled and shameful imposters, in Albany, New York and Rochester, 
taking advantage of the fact, that there is no international copy-right 
law to protect me, have reprinted at various times large portions of 
my London edition of the Medical Wand. 

My descripions of diseases and their treatment, they have palmed 
off as original with themselves. They have also counterfeited my 
chemical and medical discoveries, or adopted my descriptions as be- 
longing exclusively to their worthless concoctions. Again I say, be- 
ware of these charlatans. Their impositions will be readily appa- 
rent to all, upon comparing this book (which an exact counterpart of 
my London edition, which has reached a sale of over half a million 
of copies,) with the insignificant attempts of my imitators. I have 
therefore concluded to print an American edition, and sincerely hope 
that no person will neglect to send for my true preparations, because 



VI 

they have hitherto been imposed upon by worthless counterfeits. 

All who send to the address of the author of this book may be 
assured that their orders will be faithfully attended to, and their 
communications kept inviolably secret. Address, Dr. A. G. LEVY 
& Co., New Yokk City. 



Impotence and Sterility of the Male. 

Where the hindrance to cohabitation arises from organic defects, 
congenital malformation, or diseases of some of the organs of gener- 
ation, the disqualification may generally be considered absolute or 
irremediable. It is remarkable, however, to what extent mutilation 
or disease may occur, without total annihilation of the procreative 
powers ; the smallest remnant of the penis, for instance, capable of 
entering the vagina, provided the testes be sound, being sufficient for 
impregnation. 

A learned lecturer on medical jurisprudence gives it as his opin- 
ion, that the smallest quantity of seminal discharge, deposited in the 
lower part of the female generative apparatus, provided the female 
be apt to conceive, is sufficient for impregnation : and it is astonishing 
how minute a quantity of this plastic agent is necessary for that pur- 
pose in some species of creatures. Spallanzani took three grains by 
weight of the male fluid of the frog, and mixing it with seventeen 
ounces of water, found that impregnation of the eggs was produced 
by as much of this exceedingly weak mixture as would adhere to the 
point of a fine needle. 

Although, in human formation, it is not essentially necessary that 
the male material should be deposited in the upper part of the vagina 
of the female, yet there is little doubt that the deeper entrance of this 
substance conduces impregnation. 

Malformation of ihe genital organs has already been stated as a 
cause of impotence. Such cases furnish much uneasiness at first, but 
are easily relievable. I have met with many instances, where consu- 
mation has been prolonged from months to years, which a slight 
knowledge of the functions of the parturient organs might have re- 
lieved in a few days ; and with respect to the latter, it may be par- 
donable to mention that, as the husband should be the fi- st to in- 
struct his companion in what is to be expected, but little disap- 
pointment will be experienced, except with the vicious and un- 
worthy. 

There is room for much ingenuity in these matters ; and as mar- 
riages are made for better or worse, there exist powerful induce- 
ments to resort to the contrivances of the ingenious humane. 

The following cases ot malformation fell under my own observa- 
tion ; and the adjoining delineation is a true picture of the circumstan- 



8 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



ces. The penis, at its under surface, was adherent, from birth, to the 
scrotum, consequently, when erection ensued, it presented the form 
of a half circle ; the urine escaped near the roots of the penis. The 
penis itself was impervious, but sensible to amative passion. The 
gentleman submitted to a division of the fold which united the penis 
with the scrotum, which former, on being thus released, assumed its 
proper position ; sexual congress was thereby attainable, and during 
erection the orifice of the uretha was drawn sufficiently up to allow 
of the ejection of the semen into the vagina. Of the ultimate result 
I have yet to hear. 

It may appear almost incredible, that the sketch here presented 
can be a true one of the penis and testicles of a young man upward 
of 19 years of age. No less was it a source of wonderment to my- 
self than it may afford a doubt to others. I carefully examined the 
individual, and saw him urinate ; the stream was certainly small, 
but surprisingly large for so minute an organization. He was quite 
unconscious of amative feeling ; the testicles were distinctly precep- 
tihle by the finger, but they certainly were not larger than cheiry 
kernels. The young man, in other respects, preserved the male at- 
tributes ; he had a slight beard, and his voice, though not powerful, 
was by no means effeminate. I had several interviews with him, and 
then lost sight of him. 

The loss of erectile power is occasioned through more causes than 
one. Erection ensues independently of the will or imagination, as 
instanced on waking in the morning — the cause is most probably a 
distended bladder ; the phenomena may be a sympathetic irritabil- 
ity of the muscles of the perinceum especially the erectores ; there 
is a general pelvic disturbance, the nervous excitement is increased, 
and the rush of blood (obedient to that excitement) is sent to the 
penis : such, I believe, is the sympathy between all these structures. 
The will exercises the "same, and the results of the imagination do 
not materially differ ; consequently where the mind fails in produc- 
ing these effects, local excitants may be found to supply its office, 
hence the usefulness of art in combating the eccentricities of nature. 
The mere handling of the testicles kindles desire, and in like man- 
ner, stimulatives applied over the scrotum generate amative heat. 

A curve of the penis is sometimes an obstruction to connubial in- 
tercourse ; this arises from the adhesion or obliteration of the cells 
of the Corpora Cavernosa on one side only, preventing the uniform 
flow of the blood into those structures, and consequently the equal 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



distention of the penis. The curve is of course laterally, and occa- 
sions in the act of coition pain to both parties, or the power of pene- 
tration is insufficient. Occasionally this malformation is only tem- 
porary, and consequently remediable. 

Franck gives an instance in which so considerable a portion of the 
jienis had been carried away by a musket-shot, that when the wound 
jealed, the organ remained curved, and yet proved adequate to the 
i.'vrformances of its functions. 

An opinion formerly prevailed, that the existence of the testes was 
unnecessary for effective copulation ; but that is no longer a point 
ol dispute : their absence, whether natural or artificial, invariably 
rendering the invalid unfruitful. It is not, however, to be inferred, 
that a person is impotent in whom no testicles are discovered in the 
crotum, instances occurring where they do not descend from the 
nbdomen (their embryotic abode) through the whole period of life. 
One testicle, provided it be sound, is sufficient for procreation. Com- 
plete extirpation of the testes, although destructive of procreative 
powers, does not extinguish veneral desire. Where the genital or- 
gans exist, but are malformed, or pathologically altered, their viril- 
ity may be nullified. 

A contracted state of the prepuce, its adherence to the glans, or 
that condition of it termed phymosis, form impediments to the emis- 
sion of the semen, which can only be removed by an operation ; and 
if that be neglected, the evil continues through life. 

Among the diseases which occasion sterility in the. male, those af- 
fecting the penis and those incident to the testicles may be numer- 
ated. With regard to the former, there often exists an excess or de- 
fiency of muscular or nervous energy, inducing priapism or perman- 
ent erection in some instances, or paralysis or pennant flaccidity in 
others. In priapism, the erection is so vigorous, and all the parts so 
distended, that the semen can not pass into the urethra ; while in 
paralysis, from some inaptitude of nervous or mnscular powers of 
the genial organs, the corpora cavernosa receive but a limited supply 
of blood, insufficient to create erection, or provoke a seminal dis- 
charge. 

Strictures of the urethra are among the barriers to sexual inter- 
course ; but happily, only in extreme cases, where the urethra is 
all but closed, so as to oppose the passing of the finest bougie. 

The testicle is subject to a variety of diseases, wherein such a re- 
laxation or obliteration of its structure ensues, that the seminal fluid 



10 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



is no longer formed : and where both testicles are alike affected, sex- 
ual desire is most usually wholly extinguished — the smallest portion, 
however, of either gland remaining uninjured, may still be capable 
of secreting semen sufficient for impregnation. 

Impotence miy follow accidents to the testicles, such as produced 
by a bruise ; or even a testicle, which shall have becomo inflamed 
from clap, shall become so chronically hardened as to be useless. 
Bruising the testicles was the mode adopted by the oriental courts 
for destroying masculine efficiency in the attendants of the harem. 

There are certain conditions of health, in which, although the gen- 
ital organs may be perfect, yet, owing to some constitutional frigidity 
there is an incapability of erection. The offspring of too young, or 
very aged, infirm persons, or of those worn down by debauchery, 
are but too common instances. 

The appearance of persons of this temperament is thus described 
by a French writer : " The hair is white, fair and thin ; no beard, 
and countenance pale ; flesh soft and without hair ; voice clear, 
sharp, and piercing ; the eyes sorrowful and dull ; the form round, 
shoulders narrow ; perspiration acid ; testicle small, withered, pen- 
dulous, and soft ; the spermatic chords small ; scrotum flaccid ; the 
gland of the testicle insensible ; no capillary growth on the pubis ; a 
moral apathy ; pusillanimity and fear on the least occasion." 

The most frequent cause of impotence, at that period of existence 
when man should be in the zenth of his procreative power, is in a 
general weakness of the generative organs, induced by too early an 
indulgence in coition, the pernicious and demoralizing crime of mas- 
turbation, or the abuse of veneral pleasures. In these cases, erec- 
tion will not take place, or but feebly, although the mind be highly 
excited by lascivious ideas. The erector muscles are paralysed from 
over-use, and the semen, if any is secreted, from the lax and wither- 
ed state of the testes, is clear, serous, without consistence, and con- 
sequently deficient of prolific virtue. Sometimes there is a want of 
consent between immediate and secondary organs of generation ; 
thus, the penis acts without the testicles, and becomes erected when 
there is no semen to be evacuated ; while the testicles secret too 
quickly, and an evacuation takes place without any exertion of the 
penis ; the latter disappointment is of extensive prevalence. 

Impotence is sometimes occasioned by particular diseases during 
their continuance, such as nervous and malignant fevers ; while, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 11 



strange to relate, an opposite effect is sometimes produced by other 
diseases, such as gout and rheumatism, haemorrhoids, etc. ; and in- 
stances are on the record, that others produce such a change in the 
constitution, that an impotent man may find himself cured of his im- 
potency on their cessation. 

Of all the functions of the animal economy, none are so subser- 
vient to nervous influence as those of generation, which, when the 
organs are perfect, and respond not to the natural application of 
them, the cause may be classed among those impediments termed 
moral. 

As the parts of generation are not necessary for the existence or 
support of the individual, but have a reference to something else in 
which the mind has a principal concern ; so a complete action in 
those parts can not take place without a perfect harmony of the 
body and mind, that is, there must be both a power of mind and 
body and disposition of mind ; for the mind is subject to a thousand 
caprices which affect the action of these parts. 

As these cases do not arise from real inability, they are to be care- 
fully distinguished form such as do ; and, perhaps, the only way to 
distinguish them, is to examine into the state of mind respecting this 
act. So trifling often is the circumstance, which shall produce this 
inability, depending on the mind, that the very desire to please shall 
have that effect, as in making the woman the sole object to be grati- 
fied. 

Impotence and Sterility of the Female. 

A female may be impotent, and not sterile ; and sterile not impo- 
tent. Impotence can only exist in the female, when there is an im- 
pervious vagina ; but even this condition does not necessarily infer 
sterility, many cases being recorded, where the semen, by some 
means or another, through an aperture that would not admit a fine 
probe, has found entrance to the vagina and occasioned impregna- 
tion. 

Impotence may arise from a malformed pelvis, the absence of a 
vagina, adhesion of its labia, unruptured hymen, or one of such 
strength as to resist intromission. In the two former instances, ster- 
ility is irremediable ; but art, and indeed nature, may overcome the 
latter impediments. 



12 " THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



Where hermaphroditism exists, the sex is usually more masculine ; 
it is a vulgar error to suppose that the two sexes exists entire, and 
that they are capable of giving and receiving the offices of married 
life. 

Leucorrhoea is often attended with barrenness ; at all events, it is 
very debilitating, and thus impedes conception. A notion once pre- 
vailed, that wom'vn who did not menstruate could not conceive ; it 
has since been disproved, except in those instances where menstiua- 
tion never occurred : a single monthly discharge indicates an ampi- 
tude for conception. It is observed that barren women have very 
small breasts. Women who are very fat are often barren, lor their 
corpulence either exists as a mark of weakness of the system, or it 
depends upon a want of activity in the ovaria : thus spayed or cas- 
trated animals generally become fat. The same remarks apply to the 
male kind, who are outrageously corpulent. There are many other 
peculiarities in matrimonii! life, fertile subjects for speculation ; 
such as, for instance, the lapse of time that often occurs after mar- 
riage before conception takes place, and the space between each act 
of gestation ; the solution of which may be. that the e occurrences 
are modified by certain aptitudes, dispositions, state of health, etc. ; 
the same may explain why persons have lived together for years in 
unfruitful matrimony, and who yet, after being divorced and marry- 
ing others, have both had children. 

It is not always that the most healthy women are more favorable 
to conception than the spare and feeble. High feeding and starva- 
tion are alike occasionally inimical to breeding. The regulaiity of 
the " courses" appears principally essential to secure impregnation ; 
and the intercourse is generally held likely to be the more fruitful 
that takes place early after that customary relief. 

Women in health are capable of bearing children, on an average, 
for a period of thirty years, from the age of fifteen to forty-five ; but 
tneir incapacity to procreate does not deny them the sexual gratifi- 
cation, it being well accredited, that women upward of seventy years 
of a<re have been known, who have lost but little of the amative in- 
clination and enjoyment which they possessed in their early days. 
Men certainly possess their procreative power to a longer period, it 
being common for men to become fathers at eighty, ninety, and one 
hundred— old Parr becoming a parent at the age of one hundred and 
thirty. Women rarely falls pregnant beyond fifty. 

Some females endure intense pain during cotion, so as to occasion 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 13 



fainting or great exhaustion. Such suffering is usually traceable to 
internal ailments — such as piles, fistulous openings between the rectum 
and vagina, ulcerated wombs, vaginal tumors or abscesses. Cases con- 
tinually present themselves, where, on the removal of the cause, the 
effect is cured. 

The number of children that women have individually given birth 
to is very variable. It is attested, among a collection of facts of 
this nature, that one female gave birth to eighteen children at six 
births; another, forty-four children in all, thirty in first marriage 
and fourteen in the second ; and in a still more extraordinary case, 
fifty-three children in all, in one marriage, eighteen times single 
births, five times twins, four times triplets, once six, and once seven. 
Men have been known to beget seventy or eighty children in two or 
more manages. With regard to the aggregate proportion of male 
and female births, it appears that the males predominate about four 
or five only in one hundred. The average number of children in 
each marriage is. in England, from five to seven. 

To a continnal irritability of temper among females may be as- 
cribed infertility. Independently of ever fostering domestic dis- 
quietude, it produces thinness and feable health ; and, where preg- 
nancy does insue, it most frequently provokes miscarriages, or leads 
to the birth of ill-conditioned and puny offspring. 

Perhaps one of the most indispensable and endearing qualifica- 
tions of the feminine character is an amiable temper. Cold and cal- 
lous must be the man who does not prize the meek and gentle spirit 
of a confiding woman. Her lips may not be sculptured in the line 
of perfect beauty, her eye may not roll in dazzeling splendor, but if 
the native smile be ever ready to welcome, and the glance fraught 
with clinging devotion, or shrinking sensibility, she must be prized 
far above gold or rubies. A few moments of enduring silence would 
often prevent years of discord and unhappiness ; but the keen re 
tort and waspish argument too often break the chain of affection, 
link by link, and leave the heart with no tie to hold it but a cold and 
frigid duty. 

Treatment of Impotence. 

In venturing upon this part of the subject, it will be as well, first, 
to distinguish those cases that are curable from those that admit of 



14 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



no relief. Among the latter may be enumerated all those arising 
from an original or accidental defect in the organs of generation. 
Where, also, old age is the cause, little is to be done : medicines are 
of no avail, and temporary stimuli not unfrequently worse. Let 
those who are afflicted with impotence, write to me, at once, and if 
the case is curable, or otherwise, I will honestly reply by return 
mail. 

That certain medicaments, ailments and so forth, do possess an ap- 
hrodisica power, is not to be denied ; but when adopted by those 
weak beings, whose bodies are either worn out by age or exeess, and 
who pin their faith to such restoratives, the little remaining sensibil- 
ity in their frames, the source of life and energy, can not sustain 
the shock of reaction ; and the result is, total annihilation or death. 

From what has already been stated, it will be perceived, that the 
mind exercises no inconsiderable influence over the functions of the 
organs of generation : and as the state of mind depends upon the 
particular circumstances under which it may be placed, any attempt 
to establish a code of instructions, applicable to every instance in 
which a sportive fancy, or disturbed imagination, constituted the 
prevailing cause, would be abortive, and might be considered as 
pandering to a vicious and depraved appetite, whereas the object of 
tbis treatise is only to encourage the diffident, to assist the afflicted, 
and render a service to those legitimately deserving it. 

As excess in sexual indulgence impares the generative power, no 
less injurious may entire abstinence be considered. The due exer- 
cise of an organ tends to its perfection, as the neglect or mis-use of 
ir, to its impairment. Besides, there is not any wonderful virtue in 
abstaining from the proper use of the sexes. Why, in the name of 
morality, were such powerful impulses and desires bestowed upon 
us ? Why were such wonderful organizations given to us, if they 
were not originally designed to be used by every one who is possess- 
ed of them ? Society, in its present form, is not perhaps constructed 
with a philosophical regard to our own natural instincts, and our 
own original rights. 

Among the causes that induce impuissance, or that distressing con- 
dition under the cognomen of nervous debility, there is not one more 
reprehensive than the unworthy and pernicious practice of self- 
abuse. It is much to be regretted, that some medical writer, of tal- 
ent and estimation in society, has not turned his attention to the sub- 
ject, and given the influence of his name in denouncing to the world 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 15 



the misery and devastation which are the unerring consequences of 
this sordid and solitary vice. It is indeed an unpleasant and thank- 
less task ; and there probably exists in most minds, an unwillingness 
to enter upon a subject in which there is so much difficulty in select- 
ing language sufficiently appropriate to exhibit the folly in its true 
colors, without offending the ears of the chaste and virtuous. 

But a question of such paramount importance should not be sa- 
crificed to any false or prudish notions of delicacy ; I shall therefore 
offer such observations, as I may think calculated to check the pro- 
gress of a vice, that has done more to demoralize the human mind 
ihan the whole catalogue of existing causes besides. It may be 
deemed an exageration, when it is stated that full three fourths of 
the insane owe their malady to the effects of masturbation : but the 
assertion is corroborated by one of the first writers on medical juris- 
prudence, and is fully borne out by the daily experience of proprie- 
tors of lunatic asylums. The practice of self-abuse usually has its 
origin in boarding-schools, and other places where young persons 
congregate in numbers ; and there are few of us who may not have 
observed the vice practiced, although it may be unpleasant to avow 
as much, that could resist the contamination. 
" One sickly sheep infects the flock, 
And poisons all the rest." 
And thus it is, though ninety-and-nine be pure and spotlesss as the 
driven snow, if the nundreth be immoral, the poison is soon dissem- 
inated, and the whole flock become initiated into vice, which, if in- 
dulged in, will blast their intellectual faculties, and probably con- 
sign them as outcasts of society ; rendering them slavering idiots, or 
the inmates of a lunatic asylum. It is not only in private schools 
that this sin rages, our public foundations and colleges are not ex- 
empt from it. The heads of our universities are particularly scru- 
pulous in driving from their neighboihood the frail fair, lest they 
should contaminate the votaries of learning : while a vice far more 
degrading in its practice, and infinitely more baneful in its effects, 
rages within the very sanctuaries of classia lore. Many a brilliant 
genius has sunk into fatuity beneath its degrading influence. Loss 
of memory, idiocy, blindness, total impotance, nervous debility, par- 
alysis, strangury, etc., are among the unerring consequences of an 
indulgence in this criminal passion. I need not bring a greater 
proof of the dire effects of an indulgence in the practice of mastur- 



16 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



bation, than the deplorable state of mind to which it reduced one of 
our greatest poets. 

The treatment of this delusive and mentally annihilating propen- 
sity, falls equally within the province of the philosopher and the 
physician. Without a total abandonment of the practice, the case is 
hopeless ; and he to whom the consequences shall have been por- 
trayed and heeds them not, is unworthy of our sympathy, but de- 
serves the evils he entails upon himself. 

Now, as the consequences of all criminalities continue to ensue so 
long as the provocative be kept up, it is veiy evident that, as a first 
toward the restoration of order and health, the cause must be re- 
moved or withheld. The mere will or resolution is seldom sufficient : 
virtue, like vice, has its allurements, and those belonging to the for- 
mer must be called into requisition as antagonists to the snares of 
the latter. Physic can not check bad principles, or bad indulgences. 

No method is or can be superior to that full employment of the 
mental faculties on noble and intellectual subjects, on objects wor- 
thy the high ends lor which Nature has adapted them. And though 
the difficulty will be great in inducing new and good habits, to the 
exclusion of such as are unworthy and degrading, yet the effectual 
accomplishment of such a resolution is not of uncommon occur- 
rence ; and the sufferer may be placed under circumstances where 
good habits may be more frequently called into action naturally, to 
the exclusion ot vicious propensities. The time should be well fill- 
ed, so as to leave no room for flying to the various usual sources of 
amusement that fill up the life of the thoughtless and gay. Every 
hour and every minute should be provided for, so as to exclude tho 
admission of idleness and sloth, the forerunners of mental and bodi- 
ly disease. Studies connected with education should be encouraged. 
Modern languages have a great claim on the consideration of all 
who are engaged in business to any extent, and are of incaluable 
use after they have fulfilled the immediate end for which their cul- 
ture is here recommended. The various sciences bearing more or 
less on the pursuits and employments of every man are earnestly re- 
commended to the choice of the unfortunate victim of sensuality. 
Geology and botany would call him into the healthful fields, or fill 
up his time by his fireside, in studying the many excellent works on 
those subjects : the still higher utility of chemistry, as being made 
of practical use in almost every business, and demonstrating the else 
unintelligible phenomena of a multitude of natural processes and 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 17 



changes, may be held up as another inducement to call forth his best 
energies. 

Traveling, to those who can afford the expense or the time, is one 
of the best means of conquering this baneful habit. The numerous 
objects thereby presented to the eye of the invalid in the manners, 
government and productions of art and nature, of the countries he 
visits, are an incessant source of pleasing and useful excitement, 
and can not fail, especially if the traveler be accompanied by an in- 
telligent and moral friend, to weaken and eradicate the bad impres- 
sion of the past. 

To diverge, and at the same time to conclude this part of the sub- 
ject, I have only to offer a few remarks relative to the medical and 
therapeutic treatment of those cases of impuissance, that age, disor- 
ganization, and total incapacity, do not exclude from consideration. 
I have already expressed my belief, that generative imbecility is 
consecutive to general debility ; hence, whatever tends to improve 
the latter, tends also to remove the former. The diet, therefore 
should be full and generous, with a liberal portion of spices ; but all 
stimulating liquids, such as wine, brandy, and the rest, should be 
avoided. 

f Bathing, in its various forms, constitutes no unimportant feature in 
the treatment ; the cold plunging, the tepid shower, the douche, the 
warm and the vapor baths, possess their several influences. The 
various medicines that come under the denomination of aphordisiacs, 
are not wholly uninfluential, such as stomachics, aromatics, gums 
and balsams, oils and others ; but as their administration can only 
be permitted under professional direction, no real utility can follow 
any specification or formulary of their proportions. I would there- 
fore earnestly advise all who are suffering under any form of impo- 
tence or sexual debility, to apply by letter immediately to me. The 
eourse of medicines sent, and the full and explicit directions for use, 
enables the patient to treat himself in precisely the same manner as 
if he were under my personal supervision. My medicines contain 
no minerals; as I believe in the herbal treatment exclusively. The 
price of a full course of medicines, guaranteed to cure the worst 
forms of sterility and debility, $15. Sent to any part of the United 
States by express, securely packed, upon receipt of price. Address 
Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York City. 

2 



18 THE MAGIC WAND, ANB 



The Road to Marriage. 

The proper age for marriage, according to the law of this country, 
is twenty- one for the male, and eighteen for the female ; but in Na- 
ture's law, twenty-five for the male, and twenty-one for the female, t© 
accord with the complete development of the adult. 

The great cause of unmarried adults in Christian communities, is 
owing to the difficulties young people experience, in endeavoring to 
procure partners. That is, in fact, no bachelor who has been so from 
choice, and, iu nine of ten cases, the reasons he will g.ve you for his 
celibacy, are not the true casues. 

By far the greater number of old bachelors, has been occasioned 
by circumstances which have kept them aloof from female society, 
or the bashfulness which would never permit them to bring a lady to 
the simple answer of " yes" or '• no.' 7 

I have known young men with every advantage of person and for- 
tune to be deeply in love, but, who, in conseqence of their back- 
wardness in revealing their passion, have waited until some person, 
without the moiety of their deserts, but with a stock of assurance, 
c trried away the object of their affections. 

Again, ladies are obliged to remain single for the want of an op- 
portunity to procure husbands. This is generally owing to selfish- 
ness of parents, who exclude young men yet from their house, except 
those too insignificant to win their daughters affections, till at las-; 
the lady is compelled to remain single or favor inferiors. 

Homeliness of person is never the cause of want of partners, for 
every a<re has its model, and fancies are as various as are the pecu- 
liar notions of individuals. 

When a young man finds himself unusually facinated by a young 
'ady, perhaps at first sight, he should at once come to a stand-still, 
and make a thorough examination of his own circumstances, in case 
he should be successful ; and also the situation of the other party, 
including character, disposition, prior engagements, etc. ; and then, 
should everything co-operate, or nearly co-operate with his wishes, 
in God's name let him 'go ahead.' I insist, however, that a little pre- 
caution in the beginning may save a great deal of trouble in the se- 
quel, because a man can stifle and destroy the effects of first sight 
love, if he will only remain away from the occasion of it ; whereas, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 19 



if he rushes considerately into it, it may afterwards turn out that 
his reason and respect will prompt him to eschew a passion which, 
his yet poweriul affections may keep him inevitably bound to. 

When a man finds that his heart is '-'gone," and that the possession 
of a certain female is requisite to his happiness, he should at once 
begin to study her character, so as to direct his own movements ac- 
cordingly. This, I maintain, is a most important point ; for a gentle- 
man who attempts to woo a lady after a fashion opposed to her pre- 
judices, has almost as little chance of success, as a person who might 
undertake to solve a mathematical problem with an improper number 
of figures ; or even as one should endeavor to stop the course of time 
by letting his watch run down. 

Some men imagine that an everlasting fund of small-talk is enough 
to captivate any woman in the world ; but those persons, when they 
think they have the field all to themselves, are in general, made mere 
laughing stocks as soon as their backs are turned. They are usually 
kept in second-hand favor, however, as usefiil appendages in a walk 
or ball-room, and to supply their bantling inamoratos with the chit- 
chat of the day. 

Other men think that the secret of making love, lies in flattery 5 
and hence they administer the dose so unsparingly, that it amounts 
to a surfeit. Flattery is, indeed, a powerful weapon, when managed 
with dexterity, but, in the hands of a person ignorant of its mysteries, 
it is worse than no weapon at all : as its edge is not unfrequently 
turned against himself. 

Again, there are men who place all their dependence in their own 
personal appearance ; but these are mere nobodies, who seldom 
succeed, when any man of sense and spirit thinks the object of their 
regard worth contending for. 

There is but one good general rule for going to work, and that is, 
in the first place, after you have secured, or even partially secured 
her affections, begin to treat her as her conduct may apparently 
deserve, from time to time. Thus, if she becomes occasionally very 
eloquent in the praises of other men for the purpose of tantalizing, 
you should immediately begin to expatiate upon the superior qualities 
of some other woman ; if she hints that your visits are troublesome, 
leave her to herself for a week or two ; and if she affect to favor the 
approaches of a rival, the readiest and most effectual remedy for 
bringing her to her reason, is to commence, in seeming, to one of her 



20 THE MAGIC WAND. AN& 



acquaintances. In short, a man, to woo a female coquette, must 
become a male coquette ; for, with such a lady, all the eloquence a»d 
devotion in the world will stand him less in need than a well-directed 
nonchalance. I would, however, as he values his happiness, advise 
no man to marry a downright coquette ; for, however her peculiarities 
may pass for wit or playfulness, the real foundation of them is fickle- 
ness or dishonesty ; and when she consents to an union, it is in nine 
cases out of ten, the result of pride, spite, or jealousy ; and, even 
though the latter should predominate at the time my word for it, the 
flame is either ephemeral or of so eccentric a character, that it is 
seldom directed lor twenty -four consecutive hours towards the same 
focus of attraction. Taking everything into consideration, I would 
rather, of the two, trust the honor of a reclaimed votary of pleasure, 
than of a genuine coquette, if they were both placed in an equal 
sphere of temptation. 

When, therefore, a man goes in quest of a wife, as a sort of business 
speculation, and with the chief intention of becoming a domestic 
man, and making himself comfortable, he should first carefully 
examine himself, in order to determine the nature of the being that 
might contribute most to his happiness ; for, otherwise, his blissful 
anticipations of a domestic heart, cheerful companion, and connubial 
felicity may all find a termination on the very day on which he had 
hoped to launch for ever into their undisturbed enjoyments. 

Hence, a covetous man should avoid marrying with a generous 
girl, for she will not only make him miserable by her expenditure, or 
her complaints, but she will also learn to dislike and despise'him for 
his principles, 

A man of generous disposition, however, would do best to provide 
himself with a frugal wife, for she will honor and boast of his nature, 
at the same time she will prevent it from bringing its possessor to 
poverty ; and again such a husband will best know how to appreciate 
such a wife ; for the thriftiness which is mean in a man, is commend- 
able in a woman, especially if she has got a wasteful partner to deal 
with. 

A man of phlegmatic nature should be careful how he marries a 
warm and buoyant woman, for, in case a woman of this temperament 
does not feel that her affections are duly returned, nothing but the 
strictest sense of morality will prevent her bringing them to another, 
even though it should be an unlawful market. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. "" 21 



For the same reason a man of an amorous organization should 
never unite himself with a cold, unexcitable, and matter-of-fact fema'e : 
for, unless he is another Joseph, he will most assuredly be untrue to 
her, as he will be unable to bear with the vexation of the continual 
repulses ; while the too partial usages of society make it optional 
with him to find a resource. 

Again a jealous man should rather commit suicide than matrimony 
with a very handsome woman ; for every word spoken in her favor, 
and her every glance, action, and inquiry that he is not the immediate 
occasion of, will sink like a dagger in his heart. 

I shall now record a few remarks on the philosophy of making love, 
which are founded on long study and ample experience. 

A word of advice to the Lover, who has been once truly accepted, 
but r jected afterwards, through the interference of friends. In such 
cases, if he is determined to win, for the sake of love, pride, satisfac- 
tion, or any other cause — let him but go to work judiciously, and 
the day is his own. in spite of a world of opposition. Woman, for the 
most part is not fickle, when her affections have been once secured ; 
for, however the threats and admonitions of parents, guardians, &c, 
may discompose or change their currents, they will speedily return to 
their channels, and even more securely and deeply than ever. If 
those whom it may concern could only understand the mysteries of a 
woman's heart, they would see the necessity of not interrupting its 
bent, in matters of love, unless under very urgent circumstances ; and 
if bachelors could also appreciate the nature of the same erratic 
material, they would rather put then* right arms in the fire, and burn 
them to their sockets, than unite with parents or guardians in 
endeavoring to coerce the affections of a lady in their favor, whose 
heart had been given, and therefore belonged to another. 

Personal beauty is not less essential to a successful conquest, clean- 
liness, and "A careless comeliness with comely care," most unmis- 
takably are. No lady would admire a filthy swain, with a bald pate 
and dirty teeth ; and with a gentleman, vice versa. It is decidedly 
unromantic to press, even very pretty lips, in the ardor of a kiss, if 
the ivory they curtain is coated with a yellow encrustation, which 
gives a sewer fragrance to the breath. A man to be manly, must 
have a luxuriant head of hair, and, in these days of patriarchial imita- 
tion, a thrify beard. A lady to look wholesome and attractive, must 
possess an abundance of the material with which to make a girlish curl 



22 THE MAGIC WAND, AHD 



or graceful braid. Old age seldom mars the personal charms, if the 
cycle of time has not robbed the individual of his or her natural 
adornments. The handsomest couple I ever saw were centenarians, 
(this is a fact). Let, therefore, he who would win the fair hand of 
the lady he loves, in addition to the following and carefully prepared 
directions in the various parts of this book, endeavor to show a manly 
face, a cleanly mouth, and an unblemished skin. A female, too, 
should avail herself of every invitation of art to preserve those orna- 
ments which the God of nature originally bestowed on her. 

I never hear the word dandy used, that I do not ponder over its 
lack of meaning. Gross minded people — and there are many such, 
for whom there appears no earthly redemption — imagine that every 
well dressed, carefully "made up" man is a "dandy" and that the 
term is one of opprobrium and reproach. On the other hand, I think 
it a complimentary appellation. I would rather be termed "a dandy" 
than a "dirty careless fellow," any day in the year. And, after all. 
the dandies have the lead in all good society ! You may be sure 
that when you meet a company of pretty ladies, a dozen or two 
dandies are very near at hand. The dandies have the post of honor 
at parties, balls, the plea, and the opera, and on the promenade they 
are always fovored with the care of' the handsomest and freshest 
belles of the day. Take my advice ; and, if you would be popular 
in the right quarters, be a dandy. It is a duty — a positive duty — 
that every individual owes to his or her fellow-beings, to look as 
attractive as possible. Therefore patronize the tailor, the bootmaker, 
the haberdasher, the barber, the cosmetician, the dancing master, the 
jeweler, the maker up of "fine linen," the dentist, and the glover, as 
Ireely as your means will permit. Be sure that those to whom you 
give your p itronage are masters of their several arts, and pay them 
ungrudgingly and with liberality, for it is by fir the cheapest in the 
end, to pay well for a good thing, than to give a small price for an 
inferior article. I do not mean, of course, that there is any virtue in 
profuse and reckless expenditure ; but I do mean that a first rate 
coat is cheaper at $20 than a poor one is at $5. In dealing with any 
of the persons above*mentioned give them a fair price, one from which 
they can realize some profit, and they will do their best for you. Be 
nigardly in your offers to them, and they will most certainly slight 
your orders. 

Having said a few words with reference to dandies, let us devote a 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 23 



little attention to their counterparts in females. These are termed by 
dandy-haters, "dashing-flirts," or "gay girls." &c, and are stig- 
matized as persons whose judgment is fit only to pass upon dry goods, 
and whose intellect can compass toilet affairs only. A serious mis- 
take. Your dressy girl must be something of an artist. And if she 
were not a person of refined taste her propensities for personal 
adornment would never have been developed. She must have a fine 
eye for grouping and arranging of colors. She must be competent to 
distinguish the finest textures from the mock commodities brought 
into market, and hence must possess a fair knowledge of commerce 
and manufactures. She must be a lover of nature and alive to its 
beauties. She must be something of a lapidary, too, and be capable 
of distinguishing paste from diamonds. Indeed, no woman can be a 
sufficiently good dresser to attract envious remark, without possessing 
a large and useful share of intellect. 

Now I advise such of my iemale readers as are not "gay flirts," (I use 
the term flirts here in the sense of connecting it with apparel) by nature 
to take up the trade without delay. By study and perseverance they 
can learn to dress as well as the most natural of the "gay flirts." 
And let them not spare artifices. It is legitimite to adorn your houses 
with the best furniture and trappings you can get, and why should 
you not adorn your person with the same degree of care. In Shak- 
spear's comedy of "Much Ado about Nothing," Bendict. that most 
fastidious of Bachelors, and afterwards happiest of married men says : 

" One woman is fair ; yet I am well : another is wise ; yet I am 
well : another virtuous ; yet I am well : but till all graces be in one 
woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be 
that's certain ; wise or I'll none ; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen 
her ; fair, or I'll never look on her ; mild or come not near me , 
noble, or not I for an angel ; of good discourse, an excellent musician; 
and her hair shall be of whatever color it pleases God." 

Let every one of my lady readers consider that she has a Benedict 
to please, and act accordingly. If she cannot realize his ideal of per- 
fection, let ber come as near it as she can. It will be seen that 
Benedict chose, for the color of his mistress's hair that which " God 
pleased," or, in other words, that which nature had selected. Shak- 
speare was well versed in human nature, and no man ever lived that 
understood the "fitness of things" so well. He comprehended per- 
fectly well, that the hair nature gives us is colored to suit the shape 
of our features, the cast of our complexions, the expression of our 



24 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



faces, and the language of our optics. I have a preparation— com- 
posed entirely from oriental herbs — that will restore hair to its natural 
color, no matter how grey it is. One of the ingredients is largely 
used by the ladies of a portion of the East to dress their hair. It has 
always operated like a charm. It never met with a failure. It also 
restores hair to bald places, and renders it thick and glossy. I will 
send one bottle to any address on the receipt of One Dollar, this sum 
barely covering expenses. Write for "Bazille's Hair Tonic." If the 
hair of your head is red, let it remain so. Do not Color it black, for 
it would not deceive any body. It would look like just what it was 
— dyed article that had no appropriate place on your shoulders ; but 
if it is grey restore it to the color that it bore when you were young. 

In order to accomplish my object in writing this book, I must occa- 
sionally descend to the discussion of matters that appear frivolous. 
Do not hastily misjudge and despise them. Trifles, my frienhs, are 
not to be despised with impunity, for they oftentimes make or mar a 
human be ng-s destiny. We know that all great discoveries and 
inventions have been originated by the merest of trifles, the paltriest 
of accidents. An apple falling, suggested to Sir Isaac Newton his 
invaluable discoveries with regard to the laws of gravitation. The 
telescope was suggested by the accidental placing of a couple of 
pieces of glass together in an optician's shop, and the careless exami- 
nation oi them, in that accidental position, by a lounging apprentice 
boy. Trifles form the material of everything vast. The coral reefs 
and islands in the seas, are the work of animalcula? scarcely percep- 
tible to the naked eye. The globe itself is formed of atoms. 

If you disregard trifles, you will never become prominent or im- 
portant in any degree, but will vegetate like a plant, and die un- 
known, unloved, and uncared for. Life is no trifle, but it is a con- 
glomeration of trifles. Look, therefore, upon the " day of small 
things" with a watchful, an earnest, and a curious eye. A spark 
fires a train of gunpowder, and blows up a city. A mouse, remem- 
ber, freed the netted Lion. In all the little details and minutiae 
which I am constrained to relate to you, and impress upon your at- 
tention, there lurks a great consequence — there lingers a gigantic 
end. It is happiness ; that which, to the unreflective and the ignor- 
ant, seems an unattainable shadow. But there is nothing so easily 
obtained, if pursued in the right way, as happiness. The old saying 
has it, " keep your feet warm, and your head cool, and defy the phy- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 25 



sician." There is a volume of truth in this. There is an equal 
amount of substantial truth in my theory, viz : preserve your health, 
acquire money, and make yourself as agreeable in looks as care and 
ingenuity will allow you. This will enable you to win and retain 
the affections of the one you adore, and it will make you hosts of 
friends besides. What more is requisite to attain perfect content- 
ment ? How strange it is that these simple truths, so plain and in- 
genious that a child can appreciate them to their full extent, escape 
the knowledge of nine-tenths of mankind ! How remarkable that 
the first intimation you have ever had of their force and value is re- 
ceived from the pages of this humble volume ! We walk in dark- 
ness in the midst of light, do we not ? 

" Assume a virtue if you have it not." All you want to annihilate 
your bashfulness, is a little confidence. If that unfortunately does 
noffind growth in your composition, you must counterfeit it. One 
or two efforts, and the difficulty is all over. If you meet with acci- 
dents at the first going off, pass them over with an air of ease, as if 
they were matters of no moment, and as if you did not give them a 
moment's thought. By treating them thus cavalierly, and by placing 
so small an estimate upon their worth, you induce others to do the 
same ; for men are imitative as well as monkeys. Practice ! yes, 
that's the word ! will make the most bashful person able, after a 
while, to endure the gaze of ten thousand eyes without flinching. 
Instance the case of the actress who was five years before she could 
make up her mind to face her audience without trembling like the 
oft-mentioned Aspen Tree. 

I will now proceed to specialities, in which I hope to convey such 
information as will enable every one of our single friends, old and 
young, to get partners at will, while I shall instruct persons of every 
age, in the easiest and best methods of preserving the love they may 
have gained in all its original freshness and purity. My remarks, it 
must not be forgotten, are intended for the delectation and benefit 
of persons of aU ages. It will be seen by the following report, re- 
cently made by the Register of Boston, (where east winds and a pe- 
culiar climate are not especially favorable to the development ol 
amativeness,) that none are too old to marry. The Report is interest- 
ing of itself, as it shows at what ages the most marriages take place. 
It is a fair criterion to judge other parts of the Un T ted States by. 

The whole number of marriages in Boston during the past* year, 



26 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



was 2,855 ; and it appears from tables that the favorite period of life 
at which males select their partners, seems to be that between the 
ages of 21 and 23. The number that married in 1855, within that 
period, 1,018, nearly 35.65 per cent, of the whole number married, 
A second favorite period is that between the ages of 25 and 38, when 
961, or 33.66 per cent, changed their condition. A third period, that 
between 30 and 40, has many, ardent lovers, 593, of whom, or 20.77 
per cent, took to themselves helpmates. 

The favorite matrimonial period for females appear to lie bet.veen 
the 20th and 25th year. It will be observed that 1,297, or nearly 
45.43 per cent, of the whole number of marriages, were consumma- 
ted during that interesting period. The second period is the same 
as that of the males, between 25 and 30. Here 647, 22.66 of the 
females married, received their husbands. The third, is that falling 
below the age of twenty, at which time the goodly number of 491 
selected their partners. A fourth period — also a favorite with the 
other sex, lies between the sober boundaries of 30 and 40. During 
this period, 593 males and 306 females changed their conditions. 

Of the females under 20 years, 31 married men over 30 ; and three 
obtained husbands who had passed their fortieth year. One female 
between 20 and 25 married a man who was upwards of 50, while an- 
other of the same age, received a husband in a man of the mature 
age of 66 ! 

Of the marriages of the males, 2,449, or 85.77 per cent, were first 
marriages ; 2,290, or 80.21 per cent, were to maidens ; 156 to 
widows ; and three to those who had been widows twice. The num- 
ber of second marriages was 373 ; 353 of these were to maidens ; 
116 to widows ; and four to those who had been widows twice. 

Of the 25 third marriages, 14 were to maidens, 9 to widows, and 1 
to a widow the second time, and one to a widow the third time. 
There was one fourth, and one fifth marriage ; the first to a maiden 
of 30 ; and the other to a maiden of 23 ! 

The first manages of females, number 2,559, or 89.63 per cent, of 
the whole number. Of these, 2.290 were to single males ; 252 to 
widowers ; and 14 became third wives. 

Love Powders. — Apropos to the foregoing, it has occurred to 
me, that many of the imitators of my book, to whom I have before 
adverted, advertized to send an all-potent love-power, to any one 
foolish enough to invest his or her money, for such improbable in- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. -",. 21 



gredients. The age oi sorcery has passed away, and we do not be- 
lieve our reader superstitious or ignorant to such an extent as to be- 
lieve in the existence of a love acquired by any but natural and 
worthy means. Here is a recipe said to be used in China and Hol- 
land with great success. 

A Love Powder used in China and Holland. 

The hair of a young virgin, calcined 3 oz. 

The down of a youth's chin, (ibid) 4 oz. 

The eyes of toads 1 oz. 

Human marrow 1 dr. 

The stings of queen bees 1 scr. 

Camphor 5 oz. 

Pure gold 1 gr. 

This powder, pulverized and sprinkled on an enemy's premises, is 
said to cause many calamities. Cast on coquettes, they are compel- 
ed to walk in their sleep, and suffer, torment. 

But our enterprising cotemporaries rely ma : nly on the following 
potent charms, which will be duly sent to any one inclosing them 
a V. 

Powdered Magnesia, 2 oz., colored with cochineal, and perfumed 
to please the fa icy. To be sprinkled on the clothing, or in the path 
of the individual whose love is sought. This with the presentation 
of a plated ring (worth at wholesa'e about three cents), is guaran- 
teed to compel the love of any individual male, or female, where 
sighs which would melt a stone, fail in moving the heart of the un- 
worthy object. Our readers will at once perceive the resemblance 
in this case to the juvenile sport of catching wild birds by a timely 
application of salt to their extremities. 

Disdain all such trifling, and pay proper attention to the precepts 
inculcated in this chapter, and the " Road to Marriage and True 
Love," is a broad highway in life's journey, for all. 



28 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



Self- Abuse and its Consequences. 

PREPARED FOR THE PERUSAL OP BOTH SEXES, AND ESPECIALLY COM- 
MENDED TO THE ATTENTION OP THOSE WHOSE CONSTITUTIONS HAVE 
BEEN IMPAIRED BY YOUTHFUL EXCESSES. 

How truly fearful are the reflections which must arise in the mind 
of every lover of his race, when reviewing the wide-spread and grow- 
ing evil ot self-abuse, which has unhappily spread its cankering 
blight upon many of the fairest daughters and most promising youths 
of our land. That the "way of the transgressor is hard," is, in many 
instances, too truly recognized by such offenders in after years, but 
the bitterness of remorse is stifled by the reflection, that there were 
none to counsel them in their weakness and sin, that they were not 
warned by their elders of the fearful train of consequences, which 
would ensue from what they considered at the time, a harmless in- 
dulgence, and found, too late, it pernicious effects in a shattered and 
enfeebled constitution. Parents and guardians have much to answer 
for. if from weak and wrong-minded notions of delicacy, they do not 
instruct those under their charge, of the blasting effects of solitary 
indulgence. The author of this little book trusts that what is here 
presented, may deter many from entering this delusive path, and bring 
back the erring to a sense of the duty owing to themselves and man- 
kind, from which they have wandered. Of his competency to advise 
and treat those whose physical powers have become impaired, his 
diploma, many years of experience and practice, and a study of the 
system pursued in the hospitals of Europe and America, is a guaran- 
tee. Attentively peruse the following remarks, be guided by its 
precepts and all may yet be well. 

In approaching this subject as a speciaility, I confess a considerable 
degree of mental disturbance. It is a subject that has been so fre- 
quently dwelt upon in catch-penny books — so adroitly handled by 
empirics, and so meagerly treated by all of the faculty who have de- 
signed to give it an extra attention, that I feel reluctant to broach it. 
Yet it must be discussed. Humanity bids me not only to speak of it, 
but to do it without fear of being too plain spoken. Its importance is 
greater than that of any other subject that comes up for medical consider- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 29 



Hon, Until you have had the experience that has fallen to me, you 
will not be likely to believe that nine-tenths of the young people in 
this country are or have been addicted to the body and soul-destroying 
practice of self-pollution. It is indulged in by members of both sexes ; 
girls and boys, men and women, are the slaves of this most horrible 
and most ruinous of beastly and defiling habits I do not wish o be 
misunderstood in my denunciations of the horror. It is the vice I so 
strongly denounce, not its pitiable and unfortunate victims. Chving 
to the indelicate modesty that prevails among parents and guardians, 
and others to whom the control of children is given, this subject is 
never touched upon in the presence of the young. There is a latent 
priuciple of sensualism in everybody's nature. The infant will un- 
consciously betray this by its actions. The infant grown to a reason- 
ing and observing age, will soon imitate what it sees, and continue 
to imitate especially if the act of imiiation confers that which is, or 
seems to be, pleasurable. How careful then should those who have 
the care of these tender plants be to check every lascivious or im- 
proper word or action in their presence ! Or, what would be still 
more effective, they should prepare them to receive such words and 
actions properly. If boys and girls were taught, with the alphabet, 
that self-pollution, or any other fitting action leading to it, or to 
indulgences and practices, would ruin them— would strip the flesh 
from their bones, would made them weak, ugly, sick and hateful, 
how many of them, do you think, would ever become the slaves of 
the habit ? Not one in a thousand ! My first care has always been 
concerning a child under my control, to prepare it for bad example's 
of this character, and terrify it from following them. Let parents do 
this. They will, by adopting my advice, save themselves and their 
offsprings '-seas of trouble,"' an I ^mountains of disgrace." 

Self-abuse has been practised as far back as history carries us. At 
one time, among the ancients, it was openly and unblushingly per- 
formed. They made no secrets of these unnatural debasements, and 
to this and other beastly practices that figure in the same catalogue, 
may be attributed their rapid mental decline, and their ultimate 
physical and political downfall. 

Let me now particularize a few, only a few, diseases in the fearful 
catalogue of the self-pollutionists, — and do you give heed to the aw- 
ful and appalling record. 

Insanity, congestions of all vital parts, hypochondria (entailing, or 



30 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



rather embracing over one hundred afflictions, known by various 
names), hysteria, seminal weakness, nightly emissions, sympathetic 
buboes, swelled testicles, hydrocele, brain fever, suppression of urine 
(leading, often, to bursting of the bladder), diseased kidneys, worms, 
wasting away of the testicles, shrivelling of the penis, impotence, dis- 
charges from the urethra, catarrh, consumption, loss of voice, blind- 
ness, deafness, ringing in the ears, fits, emaciation, falling sickness, 
idiocy, destruction of speech, almost total failure of memory, giddi- 
ness, apoplexy, (serous) wasting of the mucles, pains in all parts of 
the body, melancholy, fear, anguish, decay of the sp ne, horrible dreams, 
nightmares, slow fever, nausea, palpitations, ossification of the heart, 
bursting of the heart, enlargement of the arteries, costiveness, tumors, 
piles, sores, dyspepsia, voiding of festering matter from the funda- 
ment, ulceration of the stomach and bowels, complaints of the liver, 
diseases of the spleen, loss of power to have sexual connection, all 
sorts op nervous afflictions (any one of which is unceasing torture), 
inflamations, incapability of walking steadily, flightiness, baldness, 
gray hair, decayed teeth, wrinkles, &c, &c, &c. 

There ! I nave not commenced, and yet see where I have got to ! 
What need to go further ? Why stretch our list ? Is it not enough 
already, to show that masturbation is more prolific of evil — of misery 
— of torture — than aught else that can be written about or imagined? 

Have you suffered from this terrible cause ? Have you unwittingly 
fallen into this abominable practice, and made impure both your mind 
and your body? Oh, if you have — pause before it is too late. Dr. 
Bostwick says : 

" The patient, by neglect of himself, or from a false modesty (which 
is too common with this class of patients), has delayed seeking for 
proper medical relief, until he is completely destroyed. Body and 
mind are in ruins. The generative organs are so wasted as to be 
entirely inactive, or so diseased as to secrete but a ropy, thin, and 
glairy fluid, having few or none of the characteristics of semen, and 
which continually flows away from the unconscious victim. He is 
finally either hurried to a premature grave by consumption, epilepsy, 
or apoplexy ; or, insanity, taking the hopeless form of dementia, has 
removed him from his own home to the mad-house. It is safe to say, 
that of all the cases of incurable insanity, a large majority are caused 
by involuntary seminal emissions, or by masturbation." 

I cite this, because it tells all I would have you know of the ultimate 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 31 



consequences of masturbation in a few words. Do you wish to arrive 
at this hopeless — worse than hopeless — stage ? I address even you 
who are just commencing to defile your bodies in secret, and by your 
own hands. If you do not wish to arrive at the end of the road above 
described and depicted, stop the habit. 

Hippocrates abserved that "the seed of man arose from all the 
humors of his body, and is the most valuable part of them." When 
a person loses his seed (he says in another place), he loses the vital 
spirit ; so that it is not astonishing that its too frequent evacuation 
should enervate, as the body is thereby deprived of the purest of its 
humors. Another author remarks, that '-the semen is kept in the 
seed-vessels until the man make proper use of it. or nocturnal emis- 
sions deprive him of it." During all this time, says Dr. Young, the 
quantity which is there detained, excites him to the act of venery ; 
but the greatest part of this seel, which is the most volatile and 
odoriferous, as well as the strongest, is absorbed into the blood ; and 
it there produces upon its return very surprising changes. It makes 
the beard, hair and nails grow ; it changes the voice and manners, 
for age does produce these changes in animals. It is the seed only 
that operates in this manner, for these changes are never met with in 
eunuchs, or those who have been deprived of their testicles. Can a 
greater proof of its vitalizing power be shown, than this fact, that one 
single drop is sufficent (under proper circumstances) to give life to a 
future being? Those, then, who waste their precious fluid are truly 
wretched. Disabled from rendering any service either to themselves 
or their friends, they drag on a life totally useless to others, and a 
burden to themselves, in the midst of that society whica, if it could 
know, would despise rather than pity them for their self-inflicted 
sufferings. The moralist and legislator will do well, in estimating 
the sources of human wretchedness, intellectual perversity, and 
crime, to take into account those habits which tend not more to en- 
feeble the physical constitution oi man, than to demoralize his springs 
of action. 

The undue loss of the seminal secretion in a natural way, that is, 
from too frequent intercourse with th© other sex, is productive of dire 
evils ; but where resulting from self-pollution, no language can 
describe the nature of those sufferings which violated nature is com- 
pelled to endure. All the intellectual faculties are weakened ; the 
man becomes a coward, apprehensive of a thousand ideal dangers, or 



32 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



sinks into the effeminate timidity of womanhood ; he becomes truly 
hysterical, sighs or weeps upon the slightest insult, or want of sym- 
pathy with his hypochondriacal sensations. Such an one commences 
the career of incipient manhood by the abuse of nature's most secret 
and sacred functions, and that a moment when the system is incom- 
pletely formed, when energy and passion need as yet the controlling 
rule of riper reason. Exclusively absorbed by this principle, all the 
powers of mind and body are wasted in delusive enjoyments, in im- 
aginary creations ; an age of care and anxiety follows, broken only 
by useless and unavailing regrets. 

Under the various forms of this peculiar excitement, but especial- 
ly in the diseased fancy of the victim of solitary vice, we find asso- 
ciated every species of morbid insensibility, erratic imagination, and 
their consequent results, often indicated by an indecision of charac- 
ter difficult of comprehension by those who are unacquainted with 
its cause. Waywardness, stuborn self-love, selfishness in every 
modification, or that form of it which requires and would attract the 
anxiety and attention of others too exclusively upon himself— such 
are often the mental outlines of a character which secretly debasing 
passions have contributed to form. An incessant irksome uneasi- 
ness, continual anguish, or alternating with fits of unreasonable and 
childish merriment, depressed or excited without adequate cause — 
these form some of the mental inquietudes connected with the prac- 
tice of masturbation. The evils which arise from self-pollution may 
be set down under six distinct heads : 

First — All the intellectual faculties are weakened, loss of memory 
ensues, the ideas are clouded, the patients sometimes fall into a slight 
madness ; they have an incessant irksome uneasiness, continual an- 
guish, and^so keen a remorse of conscience that they frequently shed 
tears. Th*ey are subject to vertigoes ; all their senses, but particu- 
larly their sight and hearing, are weakened ; their sleep, if they can 
obtain any, is disturbed with frightful dreams. 

Secondly — The power of their bodies decay ; the growth of such 
as abandon themselves to these abominable practices, before it is 
accomplished is greatly prevented. Some can not sleep at all, others 
are in a perpetual state of drowsiness. They are affected with hy- 
pochondriac or hysterical complaints, and are overcome with *he 
accidents that, accompany those grievous disorders — melancholy, 
sighing, tears, palpitations, suffocations, and faintings. Some emit a 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 33 



calcareous saliva ; coughs, slow fevers and consumptions, are chas- 
tisements which others meet with in their own crimes. 

Thirdly — The most acute pains form another object of patients' 
complaints ; some are thus affected in their heads, others in their 
breasts, stomach and intestines ; others have external rheumatic 
pains ; aching numbness in all parts of their body when they are 
slightly pressed. 

Fourthly — Pimples do not only appear in the face (this is one of 
the most common symptoms), but even suppurating blisters upon 
the nose, the breast and the thi^ns ; and painful itchings in the same 
parts. One patient complained even of fleshy excrescences upon 
his forehead. 

Fifthly — The organs of generation also participate of that misery, 
whereof they are the primary cause. Many patients are incapable of 
erection ; others discharge their seminal liquor upon the slightest titilla- 
tion, and the most Jeeble erection, or the effort they make when at stool. 
Many are affected with a constant gonorrhoea, which entirely des- 
troys their powers, and the discharge resembles foetid matter or 
mucus. Others are tormented with painful priapism, dysurice, stran- 
guries, heat of the urine, and a difficulty of rendering it, which 
greatly torments many patients. Some have painful tumors upon 
their testicles, penis, -bladder and spermatic chord. In a word, 
either the impracticability of coition, or any deprivation of the geni- 
tal liquor, renders every one imbecile, who has for any length of 
time given way to this crime. 

Sixthly — The functions of the intestines are sometimes quite disor- 
dered ; and some patients complain of stubborn constipations ; 
others of hoemorrhoids, or piles, and of a running of foetid matter 
from the fundament. 

Such are the sufferings, closely connected with the unnatural and 
perverted enjoyments of the sensualist, altogether the reverse of that 
transporting emotion, incidental to the caresses of a pure and virtu- 
ous affection, which in some measure counterbalances the luxurious 
fatigue consequent upon the rational and temporate indulgence. 

" Some time since," says Mary S. Gove Nichols. " I became ac- 
quainted with a lovely and intellectual young man, who was a stu- 
dent in one of our theological seminaries. His health became so 
poor that he was obliged to leave the seminary and return to his 
friends. I saw him lose his reason and become a maniac. I was 
satisfied, from all of fee symptoms in the case, that this sin was the 



34 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



cause of his wretched condition. He died without recovering his 
reason ; and a friend of his, who was in the seminary with him, 
told me, after his disease, that he was indeed a victim to ' solitary 
vice.' " 

Doctor Valentine, of Marsellies, was attending a lady of title for 
an intermittent fever, which, though several times cured, always re- 
turned under a regular intermittent form, preceded by extremely 
long-continued shivers. The physician several times expressed his 
astonishment at the disease, and ultimately received from his patient 
an avowal that she indulged in this pernicious habit, although she 
was both a wife and mother. 

In the treatment on the dangers of this vice by the physician Lau- 
sanne^ we meet with the following extract from a letter of Professor 
Stehlin, a physician at Bale, in Switzerland : " I also knew a young 
lady, about twelve or thirteen years of age, who has brought on 
consumption by this detestable habit. Her stomach is large and 
dilated, and she is affected with a discharge and inability to retain 
her urine. Remedies have relieved her partially, but she is still 
languishing, and I fear the consequences." A full knowledge of the 
extent to which this sin prevails would astonish mankind. It is in- 
deed a pestilence which walketh in darknesss, because, while it says 
and weakens all the higher qualities of the mind, it so strengthens 
low cunning and deceit, that the victim goes on in his habit unsus- 
pected until he is arrested by some one whose practised eye reads his 
sin in the very means which he takes to conceal it, or until all sense- 
of shame is forever lost in the night of idiocy, with which his day is 
so early closed. 

Many a fond parent looks with wondering anxiety upon the puny 
frame, the feeble purpose, the fitful humors of a dear child ; and after 
trying all other remedies to restore him to vigor of body and vigor 
of mind, goes journeying from place to place, hoping to leave the 
oflending cause behind, while the victim hugs the disgusting serpent 
closely to his bosom, and conceals it in his vestment. 

Excessive indulgence in veneral pleasures operates as the common 
cause of partial or total loss of sight. How much more speedily and 
effectively will he habits of the masturbator produce such a conse- 
quence! All eminent physicians who have given the subject their 
attention agree that these habits deaden every sense, and especially 
the sight. The eye is the first outward organ to tell the tale against 
the masturbator. His or her, eyes present dilated pupils, irritable 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 35 



and partially inflamed lids, show avoidance of the light, and have 
occasionally a wild stare, and sometimes a dreamy, sleepy appear- 
ance. The physician can tell what these significant signs means, and 
so can the educated man of the world. Do not imagine that, be- 
cause the spectacle-maker and the occulist have failed in doing away 
these defects of the vision and the seeing apparatus, that they can 
not be eradicated. Stop the practice, and write to me. Follow my 
directions implicitly — take my preparations as I order — and in less 
time than you will anticipate. I will restore you to happiness and 
health. Years of study have I devoted to the purpose of learning 
how to remedy all the terrible effects of masturbation ! I will not build 
you up, as some of the wretches who turn your miseries to a profit- 
able account would, with stimulants which infuse false strength for 
a few days, only to leave the sufferer more limp, more nerveless, 
more debilitated, more hopeless than ever. Of such practitioners 
(and they swarm in every city) beware. They are plausible, reck- 
less as to the lies they tell, and, like Richard III., each has a tongue 
11 can wheedle with the devil." Ay, like that killer and tyrant, 
they can " smile, and smile, and murder while they smile." 

Some parents, under this head, have said to me, •' Why, I never 
dreamed, until I consulted you to know the cause of my bodily and 
mental wretchedness, that the loss of the seminal fluid would injure. 
I thought that, so long as I had the desire, the emission was solicited 
by nature, and would do good instead of harm." What a strange 
idea ! when the desire itself is unnatural, and is produced by un- 
natural manipulations, and i diseased imagination ! What these and 
all similar patients had mistaken for genuine desire, was m rbid and 
hellish excitability. Such is the condition in which the self-polluted 
places his organs of procreation! Reflect but an instant — em such 
a drain upon the sensorial energy eventuate in aught but the com- 
plete ruin (if unchecked) of both the mind and the body? 

I address myself to those who are the victims of this foul but un- 
fortunate habit, and have never yet sought relief. And I also ad- 
dress myself, in these pages, to those who have found out the horri- 
ble cause of their sufferings — their tortures — applied to quacks for 
remedies, and been maltreated. I beg all such persons to apply to 
me without fear. They shall be cured — they shall be made whole. 

Let us look at some of the effects produced upon the poor victim 
by this constant wasting of the vital fluid ; and here I will remark, 



36 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



that there are three stages in the disease produced by involuntary 
seminal emissions. 

The first stage is that in which the disease is confined to the organs 
of generation, and has produced constitutional disturbance. 

The second stage is that in which other organs than those of gen- 
eration are invoked in the disease, producing constitutional distur- 
bance which I can readily cure. 

The third stage is an aggravation of the second stage, the aggrava- 
tion reaching a degree that no allopath can remedy, and that requires 
all the skill and perseverance of the scientific medical practitioner to 
overcome. 

The reader's attention is directed to the following description of the 
different stages : 

" The involuntary emissions may occur during both day and night. 
They take place as often as three or four times a week, and, not un- 
frequently, two or three times in one night, sometimes with, and 
sometimes without voluptuous dreams ; though it is probable that 
the dream occurs in all cases, but is at times forgotten. On leaving 
his couch the patient feels very much exhausted, and frequently finds 
that be has perspired much through the night. A trembling weak- 
ness has seized upon his limbs : he has no appetite far the morning 
meal, to which the healthful appetite addresses itself with so much 
good-will. The dinrinal emissions happen at urinating and at stool ; 
and in almost all patients we find more or less steady dribbling 
away of the semen. In some it is perceptible by palpable drops, 
more or less frequent, and in others by a continual moisture of the 
lips of the meatus urinarius. 

" These are the unconscious losses of the seminal fluid in this stage. 
If these patients attempt to have connection with women, they have 
difficulty in entering, as their erections are almost always feeble and 
transient, and their emissions take place too soon ; sometimes before 
they succeed in penetrating into the vagina, sometimes the moment 
after, with scarcely any pleasure to themselves and none to the wo- 
man, who is merely aggravated by this tantalizing operation. It is 
this to which patients refer when they say that ' they can not satisfy 
a woman.' They will sometimes have conscious emissions without 
any erection, or with merely a slight erection without any attempt at 
connection, or without self-pollution. A very little excitement — a 
female bust or leg, the touch of a woman's hand, the smell of the 
perfume used by a woman of they are enamored, a lascivious paint- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 37 



ing, or a mere voluptuous thought — will cause an involuntary, but a 
conscious loss of semen, without ether pleasurable sensations than 
the mere excitement itself. The patient, if he practise masturbation, 
receives little or no pleasure from the emission he procures in this 
manner, and only continues the practice from his fixed habit of thus 
attempting to gratify his insane desires. 

" The mind is often much enfeebled, particularly in its powers of 
concentration, and the memory is much impared. There is frequent 
vertigo, and a singing noise in the ears. The patient begins to lose 
his inclination for society and conversation ; the whites of his eyes 
are frequently quite yellow, wander about, and have ' no speculation 
in them,' and the whole countenance is somewhat vacant. The ga : t 
is feeble and irregular, and the patient falters as he raises from his 
chair. He generally loses flesh, and feels an uneasiness in the 
stomach, which suffers from many of the symptoms accompanying 
dyspepsia. He is easily startled. The slamming of a door — the firing 
of a cracker — the fall of a book — a sudden touch, or even the pass- 
ing or speaking to him unexpectedly, will cause him to start ; like a 
guilty thing.' Cowardice is a sure consequence of masturbation or 
involuntary seminal emissions. The appetite is irregular, sometimes 
poor, sometimes voracious. The bowels are also variable in their 
action, being often constipated. The protastic portion of the ure- 
thra is frequently irritable, and sometimes it is very much inflamed ; 
and there is often a thickening, sponginess, or puffhess of the parts 
immediately involving the ejaculatory ducts. 

" The mucous membranes of the vesieulae seminales becomes in- 
flamed and thickened, and the size of these organs is increased. The 
testicles and the spermatic cord are so tender as to attract attention 
when the patient crosses his legs, and the semen is much thinner than 
natural. These patients have, very generally, dark spots under their 
eyes, and frequent flushes of heat in their cheeks, particularly when 
in company, and there is more or less palpitation of the heart. It 
may be added, in conclusion, that there are some persons who, from 
their rugged organization and great recuperative powers, are able to 
bear the loss of semen, either involuntary from masturbation, for 
years, without any apparent constitutional injury. 

*' In the second stage, as in the first, the pollutions are both diur- 
nal and nocturnal ; but by far the greatest and most debilitating 
waste is that which takes place by day. The nocturnal emissions are 
copious, and recur almost every night, and sometimes three or four 



38 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



times a night. So relaxed have the organs of generation become, 
and so insensible to the usual excitement produced by passage of 
the semen, that the patient has no voluptuous dreams, and is aston- 
ished and horrified on waking and finding himself and his bed-clothes 
saturated by a more copious seminal discharge than he was in the 
habit of emitting when in health. The semen is easily absorbed by 
the clothes, and dried up, because it has become thin, watery, and 
effete. But in addition to this loss, he is subject to one equally great 
on every occasion of urinating and defecating. This also takes place 
without any consciousness on his part, and his only knowledge of 
the fact is from the alarming weakness he experiences after passing 
water or going to stool. He is sometimes completely impotent, not 
having the power of erection sufficently even to attempt connection 
with a woman, if he should desire to do so, which, however, is ex- 
tremely rare with such patients, as they are perfectly conscious of 
their state, and almost dread the sight of a female. If the disease 
has been brought on by masturbation, and the practice is persisted 
in, which not unfrequently happens, the emissions give not the 
slightest pleasure or satisfaction, and are often accompanied by a 
disagreeable and disgusting sensation. But, as if the poor victim 
was to be hunted down by the passion he had roused, it now and 
then happens in this stage of the disease that he unconsciously com- 
mits onanism in his sleep ; and so fearful and deadly a hold has the 
habit upon him. that he can be prevented from this sonambulistic 
self-polution only by confining his hands to the bed-posts, or in some 
other way which will effectually prevent his manipulations. 

" The mind is absorbed, as much as it can be, by the one idea of its 
wretched situation ; and the sufferer is haunted by the thoughts that 
his condition and its cause are known to the whole world, and that 
he is pitied or scorned by every person whom he meets. He is often 
hypochondriac, and fearful suggestions of self-destruction ever and 
anon present themselves. The power of mental concentration is en- 
tirely gone ; and the memory is so feeble, that the patient continually 
forgets what he begins to say, even in reply to the inquiries of the 
physician as to his case. The dimness of vision is continual, and so 
great as to be a material annoyance ; and the eye is wandering, or 
fixed upon the ground, never venturing to meet the gaze of another. 
The ringing in the ears, pain in the head and over the eyes, is almost 
perpetual, and sometimes accompanied with partial d eamess. The 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 39 



heart is the seat of pain, and violent and long-continued palpitations. 
The patient is enfeebled as often to be unable to walk more than a 
few hundred yards without stopping to rest. He experiences an in- 
satiable desire for sleep, and yet, on retiring, he lies awake for a long 
time, tormented by his troubled reflections, and at last falls into an 
uneasy slumber of short duration, and disturbed by horrid dreams. 
Hard, red pimples not unfrequeutly appear on the face, forehead, 
and body ; a black semicircle shows itself under the eyes, and the 
skin is livid and clammy. The appetite is either very mueh impaired, 
or very voracious, and the digestion is bad. The patient is torment- 
ed with flatulency which ke cannot control, and which, he justly 
dreads, will render him disgusting to all in his presence. The bowels 
are gene-ally constipated, obliging him to strain much at stool, thus 
aggravating the irritation of the prostrate and vesiculae seminales, 
and increasing the seminal losses. 

" The bladder is irritable, and will retain the urine but for a short 
time ; the ureters and kidneys are also inflamed, and on post-mortem 
examination are sometimes found to contain abscesses ; and they are 
the seat of great pain when pressure is made over the intervetebral 
spaces of the dorsal and lumbar vertebrae or back-bone. The vesiculae 
seminales have become indurated, and can be felt to be knotty and 
hard. The testes have dwindled away, and the penis has become 
small, and to the touch conveys a cord-iike feeling. The spinal mar- 
row is very sensitive throughout its whole extent ; the cerebellum is 
the seat of a dull and heave pain, and there is a great feeling of pres- 
sure upon the brain. Cerebral congestion now and then occurs. 

u This stage of the disease is frequently accompanied by bronchitis, 
or a continual catarrh, and is subject to disease of the rectum and all 
the tissues near the generative organs. 

" It is hardly necessary to say that the functions of the nervous 
system are completely deranged. Indeed nervous twitchings of the 
eyelids, head, and limbs, are occasional consequences of lon<r- 
continued masturbation of involuntary seminal discharges, and in this 
stage hysteria sometimes occurs." 

Of the third stage little need be said. It embraces everything 
frightful, torturing, and difficult of cure. 

If a person grown to man's estate have an involuntary or nocturnal 
emission once a month, without indulging in cohabitation or self-abuse, 
he need not be alarmed. The act is an effort of nature to throw off 
that which, in some constitutions, will secrete superabundantly. If 



40 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



an emission occurs oftener involuntarily, then debility exists, and 
impoteDcy is in prospective. If, when the emission occurs, you sud- 
denly awake and experience a sense of exhaustation, and feel chilly, 
beware, and consult a physician without delay. Either self-pollution 
or veneral excess will produce nocturnal emissions. The semen of 
an individual afflicted in this wise becomes, after a short time, watery, 
thin, sickly odored, and loses its power of impregnating a female's 
ovaries. Here is a description of some of the results of nocturnal 
emissions, produced by any cause whatsoever. 

The muscles of the youth become soft; ; he is idle ; his body becomes 
bent ; his gait is sluggish, and he is scarcely able to support himself. 
The digestion becomes enfeebled ; the breath fetid ; the intestines 
inactive ; the excrements hardened in the rectum, and producing 
additional irritation of the seminal conduits in its vicinity. The cir- 
culation being no longer free, the youth sighs often ; the complexion 
is livid, and the skin, on the forehead especially, is studded with 
pimples. The corners of the mouth are lengthened ; the nose becomes 
sharp ; the sunken eyes, deprived of brilliance, and inclosed in blue 
circles, are cast dawn ; no look of gayety remains — the very aspect 
is criminal. General sensibility becomes excessive, producing tears 
without a cause ; perception is weakened, and memory almost de- 
stroyed. Distraction, or absence of mind, renders the judgment unfit 
for any operation. The imagination gives birth only to fantasies and 
fears without grounds ; the slightest allusion to the dominating passion 
(whatever it may be) produces a motion of the muscles of the face, 
the flush of shame, or a state of despair. The wretched being finishes 
by shunning the face of men, and dreading the observation of women. 
His mind is totally stupified. Involuntary loss of the reproductive 
liquid takes place during the night, and also during the daily motions ; 
and then ensues a total exhaustion, bringing on heaviness of the 
head, singing in the ears, and frequent fain tings, together with pains, 
convulsive tremblings, and partial paralysis. Should the person 
troubled in this way, and wicked enough to go uncured, have off- 
spring, they will most assuredly be puny in body and weakly in 
mind, and will suffer through a miserable life, for the crime, the 
neglect, and the meanness of their parent. 

In the first year of the prevalence of the gold fever, I sailed for 
California in a vessel owned by a joint stock company, and, after a 
ten months' voyage, reached the "land of promise." Having visited 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 41 



London, Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburgh, Naples, Edinburgh and Glas- 
gow, and, in fact, every city of note in Europe, on professional busi- 
ness, I determined, (although I was in no need of seeking either 
money or medical information,) to see the natural wonders of the 
Pacific countries. A spirit of curiosity and venture prompted me to 
make the journey, and for the sake of my suffering fellow-creatures I 
am glad such was the case. I must say what I have to say in plain, 
rugged, condensed sentences. To begin and end as soon as possible, 
then : 

A man once a doctor, is always a doctor. He can no more divest 
himself of his medical character than of his skin, and though he be 
well-to-do, in a pecuniary point of view, and a maker of a resolution to 
henceforth live for his family alone, the force of habit impels him to 
continue to study, experiment, and prescribe as long as he lives. A 
retired physician is one of the most restless, most lonesome, and most 
dissatisfied beings that can be imagined. He feels the want of em- 
ployment for his mind, and although he will not "make calls, " he will 
keep at his books, and will rack his brains to discover infallible reme- 
dies for diseases difficult of treatment and cure. 

Among the numerous diseases which are little understood by the 
faculty, and misunderstood by all classes of people, are those which 
afflict the nerves, the brain and the genital organs. These diseases are 
known by such a multitude of names that it would require a large 
volume in which to print them. When I was a student it struck me 
forcibly, from observation, that the gentleman who superintended my 
class had given up all hope of curing the victims of an important share 
of nervous afflictions — of those especially which sprang from sexual 
excesses, an indulgence in destructive solitary habits, neglect of contagious 
ailments of the procreative organs, constitutional debility of the same, 
and hereditary weaknesses of the system generally. These victims he 
would help, but I never heard him say he had restored one to perfect 
health. After I had graduated, I ascertained that not only my instruc- 
tor, but all the old school physicians of eminence, had long tacitly and 
secretly pronounced these diseases incurable! One old practitioner 
concluded a conversation I had with him upon the subject, (which, for 
reasons best known to myself, always interested me more than any 
other,) by saying, "You can do nothing for such patients ; they are 
doomed, sir, doomed ! They are shattered samples of humanity, sir ; 
they are like blighted trees. All you can do for them is to give them 



42 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



temporary relief; stimulate them, sir. get them half tipsy, sir, ana 
they think they are getting well, sir. But they are a great bother, at 
the best, and years have elapsed since I would have any thing to do 
with them !" 

I was ambitious, and I devoted almost all my attention to these 
terrible ills. I never stopped searching for their remedies, and al- 
though I discovered many palliatives that almost hit the mark, it was 
not until I went sight-hunting to California that I succeeded, by ac- 
cident, in finding a certain, safe, and speedy remedy. 

In a beautiful region of the country, about twenty miles from Sacra- 
mento, I found a small ranche, belonging to one of Sutter's men. The 
owner of this ranche was near eighty years of age, but he was as 
lithe, as active, as clear-minded, as lively, as strong, and as healthy, 
every way, as a man of thirty. I formed a close intimacy with him. In 
the course of our conversation she told me that he had not consumed a 
gallon of intoxicating drinks in his entire life-time. I at once declared 
that to be the secret of his healthful and delightful longevity. He 
smiled a peculiar smile, arid said I was mistaken. Plucking a long, 
delicate, deep-green leaf from a small bush near us, he said, "There, 
doctor, is the real Elixir of Life. I was once at death's door, and this 
saved me. It has been my preserver ever since. I do not know its 
botanical name, but I have entitled it The Balm of Vitality. I 
never saw it anywhere but here." 

I chewed several of these leaves, according to his desire, and found 
that they had a pungent, aromatic, peppery taste, quite unique, and 
I moreover found that they were a magnificent exhilarant. A Digger 
Indian woman, who had maintained, for many years, among the 
members of her tribe, the reputation of being a prophetess, first made 
known to the old man the wonderful efficacy of these leaves in the 
cure of many diseases — among others that of barrenness, or unfruitful- 
ness of the womb, having administered a preparation from this plant, 
with great success among the wives of chiefs, whose affections had 
been alienated from them by their inability to bear children to inherit 
the hereditary honors of the tribe. After hearing the old man relate 
this, my own curiosity was strongly excited, and I gathered a large 
quantity, made a strong tincture of them, and by mixing this tincture 
with several other medicines which I knew to be good for the class 
of evils I herein speak of, succeeded, after repeated trials and disap- 
pointments, in making a remedy which comprises one of the articles 
I use in these complaints. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 43 



I am aware that the leaves of what the old man called Balm op 
"Vitality, are not to be had easily, or if they are, they are possibly 
known and sold by some other name. Nature is abundant in remedies 
for all evils. In this Balm of Vitality, she has afforded the substance 
of a cordial that will restore vigor, animation, and the perfection of 
good health, to a constitution shattered beyond all apparent hope of 
recovery. You can not take one dose of it without experiencing an entire 
change for the better. Its curative, exhilarating, and invigorating 
effects are of instantaneous production, and these effects, by a persist- 
ence in its use, accompanied by my other remedies are rendered 
'permanent Happiness, strength of mind and body, and a renewed 
hold upon existence, are its miraculous consequences. 

As to the length of time required for performing a complete and 
satisfactory cure, that depends upon the nature of the case — its precise 
features — its duration — how it has been treated, if treated at all — and 
the age of the patient. I can cure a not very bad case in ten days. 
The very woi^st of cases can be subdued entirely, by my method, in 
three months. Each of those who wish to become my patients will, 
after stating their case as clearly and briefly as possible, answer the 
following questions : 

Are you stout or slender ? 

Are you of an excitable or phlegmatic disposition? 

What is the color your eyes and hair ? 

What is your complexion ? 

What is your height ? 

Is your occupation aetiv * or sedentary? 

Are your bowels regular, or costive ? 

What is your age ? 

What is the condition of your private organs, as near as you know, 
or feel it your duty to state ? 

And you may explain all without reserve, as my lips never disclose 
a patient's secret, nor does any eye but my own ever glance at my 
letters. Correspondence is desired from all who are afflicted with 
diseases of any kind or nature. I will cheerfully answer all who, 
write me, as 1 make no charge for advice. 

Upon receiving a description of the case of any one so afflicted, 
inclosing $12, or, if too poor to afford this. S10, 1 will send at once, 
by express, a Course of Medicines, with ample instructions for use. 
The packages will surely and permanently cure all cases. 



44 " THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



Persons living at a distance, who are suffering under any disease of 
a private nature, may place themselves under my treatment by writ- 
ing to me as above, inclosing the usual fee. 

Remember that I charge nothing for advice. All letters, upon 
whatever subject, will be patiently and promptly answered. I can 
cure any case, if the patient will follow my directions. 

Address.— Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York City, N. Y. 



GRAINS OP KNOWLEDGE. 

FOR THE INFORMATION OF MARRIED AND SINGLE. 

It is as well, in order that you may understand this book in its 
general scope and bearing, that you make yourself familiar with the 
following items of information. They will always prove useful : 

Period of Child-bearing. — Women may be ten, eleven, and even 
twelve months in a certain condition, the ignorance whereof, causes 
much domestic trouble, and has occasionally been the means of 
divorces. On the contrary, full grown children may be born in the 
seventh month after conception, and some say in the sixth, or even 
less, but I doubt them. At least, out of all my experience, I never , 
had personal knowledge of a case of the sort but one, and then I had 
my suspicions, grounded on various circumstances, apart from the 
main one, which were rather unfavorable to the lady's character. 
The law which rarely, if ever, suffers, itself to be guided by excep- 
tions, holds it a proof of illegitimacy, if the period of child birth is 
delayed until the tenth month after the husband and wife have lived 
together. 

Obstructions. — Should any unexpected barriers be discovered to 
the consumation of the rights of marriage, a physician should be con- 
sulted without delay. A false modesty in such cases, may be pro- 
ductive of the most serious consequences. The Duchess de Berri, is 
a case in point. After being married about six weeks, she was on 
the eve of separating from her husband, when one of the ladies of 
the court learned the cause, and prevailed on her to consult a mem- 
ber of the faculty, who soon set all to rights. However, both the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 45 



duke and the duchess had suffered much through their delay and 
ignorance. 

The Frutthful Months. — It is estimated that the healthiest chil- 
dren are born in February, March, April and May. Consequently, 
May, June, July and August, must be the months most auspicious 
for conception. This is merely the popular opinion, but Dubois, La 
Bache, and a skillful writer in Le Temps assert that their experience 
corroborates it. 

Twins. — A female may have twins, the offspring of different 
fathers. Thus, a woman in North America, being delivered the same 
day of a black and white infant, acknowledged that nine months be- 
fore she had been on the same day with her husband, and a negro 
slave. In births where one child preceeds the other, for one or two 
months, it is fair to suspect adultery ; and, indeed, the infants them- 
selves mostly give evidence of a different male parentage. 

Red Haired Women. — Fair haired ladies claim to make the most 
affectionate wives ; but he who marries a red haired woman would 
do well not to be remiss in his attentions, for they woo warmly, and 
expect to be warmly wooed. A French woman with red hair is a 
rare occurrence ; but whenever there is one, love has a decided 
votary. 

Marriage and Poetry. — Marriage blunts the imagination. A mar- 
ried writer of fiction must hold Hymen in check, or weary his 
readers; and poetry is almost irreconcilable with the state of wed- 
lock. Schiller observes, that one cannot woo his wife and the 
muses ; and there is, no doubt, much philosophy in the assumption. 
Thus it would seem that poetry is the escape of love when not other- 
wise directed. 

Ideas of Beauty. — Men of poetical or sanguine temperament pre- 
fer the beauty of the face. Those of stronger animal propensities, 
the beauty of form, The latter makes the most attentive husbands, 
as they are content with the realities of life. 

Habitual Miscarriages. — The force of habit is such in women, 
that when a female once miscarries, she will be always liable to mis- 
carry when the same stage of pregnancy occurs. The knowledge of 
this fact may produce the care which will prevent such a result. 

The Hymen. — The existence of the hymen in woman is no certain 
evidence of virginity — neither is its absence of defloration. Young 
females may be deprived of it by illness ; and it has been found in 



46 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



ladies at the time of delivery. However, these are the exceptions, 
and very rare ones. As a general rule, the hymen indicates the 
maiden ; and vice versa ; so that a man missing it on marriage, may 
have good grounds for suspecting his wile's chastity, unless she can 
otherwise explain the cause of its absence. 

Nutritive Tubes. — Every animal, from man to the polypi, that 
clings to the rock, has a nutritive tube open at the extremities ! 
Hence, the sponge, (if an animal), being differently constructed, 
may be considered of a lower order than the polypi. 

Coquetry. — Beware how you marry a confirmed coquet ; for her 
manners are not so much the result of affectation as the actual 
changes of her mind ; and her phrenological developments will show 
that constancy is not her nature. Baillie had no doubt, good 
grounds for saying that a confirmed coquet would rather have any 
man than her husband, after the first six months of marriage. A 
little well-directed coquetery, however, is the spice of courtship. 

Living Bodies. — All living bodies spring from a germ which was 
•part of another being. This rule holds good throughout the vege- 
table and animal kingdom. 

Violation.— Conception can not take place under feelings of hor- 
ror or disgust. Hence, no woman ever became pregnant from a rape 
committed on her against her inclination. 

For and Against. — Consumption in either sex has been corrected 
by marriage. The chances, however, are in favor of females ; for it 
has been known to bring the decay of men to a hastier climax. 

Cure for Epilepsy. — Marriage is the only certain cure for uterine 
epilepsy. 

Matrimonial Regrets. -Men are liable to regret their marriage on 
the morning after its consumation, and to sigh for the freedom they 
have lost. But this is only an evanescent feeling, partially attribu- 
table to the fact, that, at the commencement, the realities of love are 
usually found to be unequal to the anticipations. A week corrects 
this uneasiness, and contentment mostly occurs before the end of the 
honeymoon. 

Effects of Bad Temper. — Constant bad temper in a wife will 
wear away the affections of the most devoted husband ; and they 
can never be renewed ! A man of lymphatic temperament, whose 
nature is difficult of excitement, is alone proof to the ceaseless bick- 
ering of an irritable woman. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 47 



Use op Cleanliness.— Cleanliness in youth is a corrective of pu- 
berty. So are meagre diet, light clothing and hard beds. 

Difference in the Sexes. — There is a striking analogy between 
the organs of generation in the sexes, the chief difference being that 
they are nearly external in man, and all internal in woman. 

The Eyes. — Soft, languid eyes are an evidence of voluptuous, or, 
at least, of amorous dispositions. In women, they assist beauty, and 
may be the effect of a gentle and affectionate heart, under the influ- 
ence of a virtuous desire ; but, in men, they are effeminate, and, if 
united with a protruding mouth and heavy lips denote a libidinous 
disposition, and a want of manly fidelity. 

Color of the Skin. — The complexion of the skin depends on that 
of the rete mucosum, a glutinous substance that lies between the 
under and outward skin. In blacks, this membrane contains an inky 
fluid, which is ascribed to carbon and the increase of bilious secretions 
in hot climates. 

Puberty. — At the time of puberty, the blood of both sexes tends 
towards the parts subservient to reproduction, which causes these 
organs to awake from their torpor and to expand. 

The Hair. — A profusion of hair is a sign of an amorous disposition, 
as is also a rough, husky voice. When a man is castrated, he loses 
his beard, and his voice grows feminine. He is also liable to periodi- 
cal hemorrhages, like the other sex. Likewise, he becomes artful, 
depraved and foolish. 

Resemblances. — Children should resemble both parents, or there 
may be a fair doubt of their legitimacy. However, notwithstanding 
the theories of Straus, Guillett and Walker, the rule is not imperative; 
for I and others have seen infants who, in face or form, bore not the 
slightest similitude to their female parents, which must be taken as 
proof positive in the premises. Still, this so rarely occurs as to be 
only the exception to the rule. 

Signs of Pregnancy. — To an experienced observer, a woman's eye 
betrays her condition, when she is in a certain way bef re her form 
gives any manifestations of the fact. The symptoms maybe partially 
concealed by the use of snuff, which corrects the glassiness of the 
optics consequent on the earlier stages of pregnancy. 

Total Abstemiousness. — It has been frequently maintained that 
total abstemiousness from sexual indulgences, would invigorate the 
mind and exalt the genius. Facts, however, prove otherwise ; for 



48 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



persons sworn to chastity grow weak in intellect ; while eunuchs 
become foolish. Nevertheless, a man who wishes to distinguish him- 
self must not give loose to his sexual passions, for excess of indulg- 
ences greatly impairs the faculties of the mind. Still, it is better to 
give way to nature, no matter how rashly, if diseases are avoided, 
than to resist her altogether. The former only injures ; the latter 
destroys. It was the belief with a certain school of alchy mists, that 
he only who was perfectly chaste, could discover the philosopher's 
stone. A perfect man, capable of being so. is as rare a thing as the 
philosopher's stone itself, and could he possibly obtain the objects of 
his desires, it is more than probable he would find the stone a dear 
bargain at the price he paid for it. 

Excesses. — Beware of youthful excesses, for sooner or later they 
have to be paid for. A great English philosopher truly says, "The 
debaucheries of youth are so many conspiraces against old age." 

On Climate. — Married persons desirous of offspring, and who have 
been disappointed therein, should, if they seek a change of climate, 
choose one colder than that which they have been used to. It need 
scarcely be remarked, that races inhabiting moderately cold climates 
are more fruitful than those who dwell in hot climates. There should 
be but little hope of becoming parents in persons who cannot accom- 
plish their desire by the aid of warm stimulants, in a cool and 
bracing climate. 

Causes of Laborious Menstruation. — One of the most active 
causes of laborious or obstructed menstruation is disappointment in 
love, and a transfer of the affections would work a cure without any 
other remedy. 

Superfluous Menstruation. — Emetics of Ipecacuana and cold sea- 
bathing are the best remedies for this complaint. Either may do — 
combined, they hardly fail of being effective. 

On Puberty.— The age of puberty is not, by a universal rule, 
earliest in warm climates. In the inhospitable latitudes of Siberia, 
for instance, the women of the Mongolian race, feel its influence in 
their twelfth year, and a contemporary writer says that they are mar- 
riageable at that age ; but this is preposterous ; they are no more fit 
to encounter the duties of married life than a precocious boy, who 
may say smart things in the drawing-room, is qualified to undertake 
the multifarious and practical duties of manhood. The same may be 
said of the Esquimaux women, the women of Lapland, and, indeed, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 49 



of the inhabitants generally of the polar regions, which is attributed 
by some authors to the smallness of their statue and their fish diet. 
But this argument is easily set aside, for the same precocity exists 
throughout all the varieties of the Mongolian race — whether they 
reside in warm or cold climates, are short and tall, or live on fish, 
vegetable or animal diet. What then is the cause of this early pre- 
cocity? I am unable to answer. But from the excessive develop- 
ment of the vital system of the north-eastern people, and their peculi- 
arly voracious appetite, I am inclined to think that it lies in the ad- 
mitted fact of their being the least intellectual, and consequently, 
most animal of the human family. 

A writer of some note, though visionary in many speculations, 
says — "In taking a general view of the period of puberty, it appears 
that, in Europe, women reach it later in the north than in the south. 
In some elevated northern regions, it does not occur until after twenty 
years of age. In England, it occurs from fourteen to sixteen in girls, 
and from sixteen to eighteen in boys. In most parts of France, pu- 
berty, in woman commences usually at fourteen years of age, and in 
the southern departments and great towns, at thirteen. In Italy it 
takes place at twelve. This is also the case very generally with the 
Spanish women, and in Cadiz they very often marry at that age. In 
Persia, according to Chardin, it occurs at nine or ten. Nearly the 
same is the case in Arabia, Barbary, Egypt, Abyssina, Senegal, and 
various parts of Africa. Thus, puberty in women commences gene- 
rally in tropical climates from nine to ten." But still, no matter how 
early it may commence, or in what climate, the desires it creates 
cannot be gratified without injury to the health, until all the other 
parts of the system have a corresponding development. 

Period of Gestation. — It is impossible that a mature child can be 
born before the seventh month after conception. The maturity, how- 
ever, should be amply proved before a child born within the seventh 
month should be considered legitimate. And this cannot be ascer- 
tained by the weight, for some healthy children weigh but eteht, 
while others weigh eighteen pounds when they come into the world. 

Suckling. — A feeble woman should not suckle her infant, or it will 
partake of her own debilitation. Lowness of spirits, passion, etc,, 
have corresponding effects on the milk, and consequently must make 
it innutritious. 

Exercises.— Too much rest during pergnancy is injurious to both 



50 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



mother and child. Hence, ladies so circumscribed should be as 
active as at other times, and take as much moderate exercise in the 
open air as they can. 

Strengthening Milk. — Porter milk is the strongest that a child 
can be suckled on ; but it is apt to make them sleepy and peevish on 
being disturbed. The nurse will also be advantaged by a moderate 
allowance of bottled porter. 

The Best Nurse. — Hartsocker contended that a child would thrive 
better on his mother's milk than that of a stranger. Natural, how- 
ever, as this may seem, I can not say that it is borne out by facts. 

Dift. — Milk diet, though it enriches the blood, moderates the de- 
sires. It might be advantageously adopted by married persons of 
warm dispositions, who can not have offspring ; and which is the 
usual result, in such cases of intensity of enjoyment ; violent love is 
but rarely fruitful love. 

Consummation. — Man is the active and woman the passive agent in 
the consummation of marriage, the latter is supposed to enter more 
fully into the intensity of its enjoyment. This, however, is an hypo- 
thesis which can never be clearly demonstrated. 



Prevention of Conception. 

absolute necessity op prevention in certain cases considered — 
ITS effects benefical in producing a higher degree of morality. 

The subject of prevention of pregnancy is one which has excited 
much attention in the minds of medical men. Many treatises have 
been put forth on this subject, and many means of prevention assert- 
ed to have been discovered. 

That such means may be lawfully used, and to serve the cause of 
humanity, it is my purpose, in these remarks, to show. Some females 
are so constituted that they cannot give birth to living children. 
Others even if they be safely delivered of children, transmit to their 
offspring the taints of disease, and usher them into what will prove 
to them, if they live, a world of sorrow and misery. Of such it may 
be said, it were truly better they had never been born. Others again, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 51 



from malformation, cannot give birth to children at all, except 
through the surgeon's intervention, by a piece-meal extraction of the 
infant from the womb of the tortured mother, and fortunate if she sur- 
vives the operation. 

Others, a^ain, experience constant dread, and suffer intense agonies 
of body and mind during the time of pregnancy, through fear of the 
sufferings attendant on confinement. All do not suffer alike ; and to 
females of delicate frame and extreme susceptibility, this period is 
fraught with most intense anguish. Life, under such circumstances, 
is not enjoyed. How can a man expect the partner of his bosom to 
meet him with the welcome smile and caress, when her mind is full 
of fearfnl forebodings, destructive alike to her mental and physical 
well-being ? Can her husband look on her with callous indifference, 
knowing this to be the case ? Will he not reflect on the means where- 
by this state of things may be averted? Surely, if he be a rational, 
humane, and right-thinking man, he must seek out a mode for the 
prevention of pregnancy, and therefore will hail with delight the in- 
formation here presented, that a mode of prevention has been dis- 
covered, which is perfectly safe and effectual, as well as preservative 
of health. 

This subject has been well argued by a French physiological writer 
of great merit, and many objections, likely to be urged by hypocrites 
and canting moralists, are fully and forcibly answered. " What," he 
asks, "would be the probable effect in social life, if mankind obtain- 
ed and exercised a control over the instinct of reproduction ? My 
settled conviction is — and I am prepared to defend it — that the effect 
would be salutary, moral, civilizing ; that it would prevent many 
crimes and more unhappiness ; that it would polish the manners and 
improve the moral feelings ; that it would relieve the burden of the 
poor and cares of the rich ; that it would most essentially benefit the 
rising generation, by enabling parents generally more carefully to 
educate, and more comfortably to provide for, their offspring. I 
proceed to substantiate as I made these positions. 

" And first, let us look solely to the situation of married persons. 
Is it not notorious, that the families of the married often increase be- 
yond what a regard for the young beings coming into the world, or 
the happiness of those who give them birth, would dictate ? In how 
many instances does the hard-working father, and more especially 
the mother, of a poor family, remain slaves throughout their lives, 



52 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

tugging at the oar of incessant labor, toiling to live, and living but 
to toil ; when, if their offspring had been limited to two or three 
only, they might have enjoyed comfort and comparative affluence ? 
How often is the health of the mother, giving birth every year to an 
infant— happy if it be not twins ! — and compelled to toil xm, even at 
those times when nature imperiously calls for some relief from daily 
drudgery — how often is the mother's comfort, health, nay her life, 
thus sacrificed I Or, if care and toil have weighed down the spirit, 
and, at last broken the health of the father, how often is the widow 
left, unable, with the most virtuous intentions, to save her fatherless 
offspring from becoming degraded objects of charity, or profligate 
votaries of vice ! 

" Fathers and mothers ! not you who have your nursery and nur- 
sery-maids, and who leave your children at home, to frequent the 
crowded rout, or to glitter in the hot ball-room ; but you, by the la- 
bor of whose hands your children are to live, and who, as you count 
their rising numbers, sigh to think how soon sickness or misfortune 
may lessen those wages which are now but just sufficient to afford 
them bread ; — fathers and mothers in humble life ! to you my argu- 
ment comes home, with the force of reality. Others may impugn — 
may ridicule it. By bitter experience you know and feel its truth. 

" Yet this is not all. Every physician knows that there are many 
women so constituted that they can not give birth to healthy — some- 
times not living children. It is desirable, it is moral, that such wo- 
men should become pregnant? Yet this is continually the case, the 
warnings of physicians to the contrary notwithstanding. Other there 
are who ought never to become parents ; because, if they do, it is 
only to transmit to their offspring grievous hereditary disease ; per- 
haps that worst of diseases, insanity. Yet they will not lead a life 
of celibacy. They marry. They become parents, and the world 
suffers by it. That a human being should give birth to a child, 
knowing that he transmits to it hereditary disease, is in my opinion 
an immorality. But it is a folly to expect that we can ever induce 
all such persons to live the lives of Shakers. Nor is it necessary ; 
all that duty requires of them is to refrain from becoming parents. 
Who can estimate the beneficial effects which rational moral restraint 
may thus have on the health, beauty, and physical improvement of 
our race, throughout future generations ? 

" But, apart from these latter considerations, is it not most plainly, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 

53 

clearly, incontrovertably desirable that parents should have the power to 
limit their offspring, whether they choose to exercise it or not? 
Who can lose by their having this power ? And how many may 
gain competency for themselves, and the opportunity carefully 
to educate and provide for their children ? How many may escape 
the jarrings, the quarrels, the disorder, the anxiety, which an over- 
grown family too often causes in the domestic circle ? Every ration- 
al being, surely, must admit, that the power of preventing, with- 
out injury or sacrifice, the increase of a family, under such circum- 
stances, is a benefit and a blessing. 

'' Will it be asserted — and I know no other even plausible reply to 
these facts and arguments — will it be asserted, that the thing is, in 
itself, immoral and unseemly ? I deny it ; and I point to the popula- 
tion of France, in justification of my denial. Where will you find, on 
the face of the globe, a more polished or more civilized nation than 
the French, or one more punctiliously alive to any rudeness, coarse- 
ness, or indecorum? You will find none. The French are scrupu- 
lous on these points to a proverb. Yet, as every intelligent traveler 
in France must have remarked, there is scarcely to be found, among 
the middle or upper classes (and seldom even among the working 
classes), such a thing as a large family ; very seldom more than 
three or four children. A French lady of the utmost delicacy and 
respectability will, in common conversation, say as simply — (ay, and 
as innocently, whatever the self-righteous prude may avert to the con- 
trary) — as she would proffer any common remark about the weather : 
' I have three children ; my husband and I think that is as many as 
we can do justice to, and I do not intend to have any more.' n 

" I have stated notorious facts, facts which no traveler who has vis- 
ited Paris, and seen anything of of the domestic life of its inhabit- 
ants, will attempt to deny. However heterodox, then, my view of 
the subject may be in this country, I am supported in it by the opin- 
ion and the practice of the most refined and most socially cultivated 
nation in the world. 

" Will it still be argued, that the practice, if not coarse, is immor- 
al ? Again. I appeal to France. I appeal to the details of the late 
glorious revolution^to the innumerable instances of moderation, of 
courage, of honesty, of disinterestedness, of generosity, of magnan- 
imity, displayed on the memorable ' three days,' and ever since ; and 
I challenge comparison between the national character of France for 



54 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



virtue, as well as politeness, and that of any other nation under 
heaven. 

" It is evident, then, that to married persons, the power of limit- 
ing their offspring to their circumstances is most desirable. It may 
often promote the harmony, peace and comfort of families ; some- 
times it may save from bankruptcy and ruin, and sometimes it may 
rescue the mother from premature death. In no case can it, by pos- 
sibility, be worse than superfluous. In no case can it be mischievous, 

" If the moral feelings were carefully cultivated, if we were taught 
to consult, in everything, rather the welfare of those we love than 
our own, how strongly would those arguments be felt ? No man 
ought even to desire that a woman should become the mother of his 
children, unless it was her express wish, and unless he knew it to be 
for her welfare, that she should. Her feelings, her interests, should 
be for him in this matter an imperative law. She it is who bears the 
burden, and therefore with her also should the decision rest. Surely 
it may well be a question whether it be desirable, or whether any 
man ought to ask, that the whole life of an intellectual, cultivated 
woman, should be spent in bearing a family of twelve or fifteen 
children, to the ruin, perhaps, of her constitution, if not to be the 
over-stocking of the world. No man ought to require or expect it. 

" But I pass from the case of married persons to that of young 
men and women who have yet formed no matrimonial connection. 

" In the present state of the world, when public opinion stamps 
with opprobrium every sexual connection which has not received the 
orthodox sanction of an oath, almost all young persons, on reaching 
the age of maturity, desire to marry. The heart must be very cold, 
or very isolated, that does not find some object on which to bestow 
its affections. Thus, early marriages would be almost universal, did 
not prudential considerations interfere. The young man thinks, ' I 
must not marry yet. I can not support a family. I must make money 
first, and think of a matrimonial settlement afterwards.' 

" And so he goes to makiug money, fully and sincerely resolved in 
a few years to share it with her whom he now loves. But passions 
are strong and temptations great. Curiosity, perhaps, introduces 
him into the company of those poor creatures whom society first 
reduces to a dependence on the most miserable of mercenary trades, 
and then curses for what she has made them. There his health and 
his moral feelings alike are made shipwreck. The affections he had 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 55 



thought to treasure up for their first object, are chilled by dissipation 
and blunted by excess. He scarcely retains a passion but avarice. 
Years pass on — years of profligacy and speculation — and his first 
wish is accomplished ; his fortune is made. Where now are the feel- 
ings and resolves of his youth ? 

1 " Like the dew on the mountain, 

Like the foam on the river, 
Like the bubble on the fountain 

They are gone — an 1 forever V " 
" He is a man of pleasure — a man of the world. He laughes at the 
romance of his youth, and marries a fortune. If gaudy equipages and 
gay parties confer happiness he is happy. But if these be only the 
sunshine on the stormy ocean below, he is a vietim to that system of 
morality which forbids a reputable connection until the period when 
provision has been made for a large, expected family. Had he mar- 
ried the first object of his choice, and simply delayed becoming a 
father until his prospects seemed to warrant it. how different might 
have been his lot ! Until men aud women are absolved from the fear 
of becoming parents, except when they themselves desire it, they will 
never form mercenary and demoralizing connections, and seek in dis- 
sipation the happiness they might have found in domestic life. 

" I know that this, however common, is not a universal case. Some- 
times the heavy responsibilities of a family are incurred at all risks ; 
and who shall say how often a life of unremitting toil and poverty is 
the consequence ? Sometimes — if even rarely — the young mind does 
hold to its first resolves. The youth plods through years of cold 
celibacy and solitary anxiety, happy, if before the best hours of life 
are gone, and its warmest feelings withered, he may return to claim 
the reward of his forbearance and of his industry. " But even in this 
comparatively happy case, shall we count for nothing the years of 
ascetical sacrifice at which after-happiness is purchased ? The days 
of youth are not too many, nor its affections too lasting. We may. 
indeed, if a great object require it, sacrifice the one and mortify the 
other. But is this, in itself desirable? Does not wisdom tell that 
such sacrifice is a dead loss — to the warm-hearted often a grievous 
one? Does not wisdom bid us temperately enjoy the spring-time of 
life, -while the evil days come not. nor the years draw nigh' when 
we shall say, 'we have no pleasure in them?' 



56 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



" Let us say, then, if we will, that the youth who thus sacrifices the 
present for the future, chooses wisely between two evils, profligacy 
and aceticism. This is true. But let us not imagine the lesser evil 
to be a good. It is not good for man to be alone. It is for no man's 
or woman's happiness or benefit that they should be condemned to 
Shakerism. It is a violence done to the feelings, and an injury to the 
character. A life of rigid celibacy, though infinitely preferable to a 
life of dissipation, is yet iraught with many evils. Peevishness, rest- 
lessness, vague longings, and instability of character, are among the 
least of these. The mind is unsettled, and the judgment warped. 
Even the very instinct which is thus mortified assumes an undue im- 
portance, and occupies a portion of the thoughts which does not of 
right or nature belong to it, and which, during a life of satisfied 
affection, it would not obtain. 

" Thus, inasmuch as the scruple of incurring heavy responsibilities 
deters from forming moral connections, and encourages intemperance 
and prostitution, the knowledge which enables man to limit his off- 
spring would, in the present state of things, save much unhappiness, 
and prevent many crimes. Young persons sincerely attached to each 
other, and who might wish to marry, would marry early ; merely re- 
solving not to become parents until prudence permitted it. The 
young man, instead of solitary toil or vulgar dissipation, would enjoy 
the society and the assistance of her he had chosen as his companion ; 
and the best years of life, whose pleasures never return, would not be 
squandred in riot, or lost through mortification. 

" My readers will remark, that all the arguments I have hitherto 
employed apply strictly to the present order of things, and the pre- 
sent laws and system of marriage. No one, therefore, need to be a 
moral heretic on this subject to admit and approve them. The mar- 
riage laws might all remain forever as they are, and yet a moral 
check to population would be beneficent and important. 

" But there are other cases, it will be said, where the knowledge of 
a preventive would be mischevious. If young women, it will be 
argued, were absolved from the fear of consequences, they would 
rarely preserve their chastity. Unlegalized connections would be 
common, and seldom detected. Seduction would be facilitated. Let 
us dispassionately examine this argument. 

" Here, let me ask, what is it gives to the arts of seduction their 
sting, and stamps to the world its victim ? Why is it, that the man 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 57 



goes free and enters society again, almost courted and applauded for 
his treachery, while the woman is a mark for the finger of reproach, 
and a butt tor the tongue of scandal ? Because she bears about her 
the mark of what is called her disgrace. She becomes a mother ; and 
society has something tangible against which to direct its anathemas* 
Nine-tenths, at least, of the misery and ruin which are caused by 
seduction, even in the present state of public opinion on the subject, 
result from cases of pregnancy. If the little being lives, the dove in 
the falcon's claws is not more certain of death, than we may be that 
society will visit, with its bitterest scoffs and reproaches, the bruised 
spirit of the mother, and the unconscious innocence of the child. 

11 If, then, we cannot do all, shall we neglect a part ? If we cannot 
prevent every misery which man's selfishness and the world's cruelty 
entail on a sex which it ought to be our pride and honor to cherish 
and defend, let us prevent as many as we can. If we cannot persuade 
society to revoke its unmanly and unc/ins/km persecution of those who 
are often the best and gentlest of its members, let us, at the least, 
give to woman what defence we may against its violence. 

"I appeal to any father, trembling for the reputation of his child, 
whether, if she were indeed to form an unlegalized connection, her 
pregnancy would not be a frightful aggravation ? I appeal to him, 
whether a preventive, which shall save her from a situation which 
must soon disclose all to the world, would not be an act of mercy, of 
charity, of philanthropy ? — whether it might not save him from despair, 
and her from ruin ? The fastidious conformist may frown upon the 
question, but to the father it comes home ; and, whatever his lips may 
say, his heart will acknowledge the soundness and the force of the 
argument it conveys. 

" It may be, that sticklers for morality will still demur to the posi- 
tions I defend. They will perhaps tell me, as the committee of a cer- 
tain society in this city lately did, that the power of preventing con- 
ception 'holds out inducements and facilities for the prostitution of 
their daughters, their sisters, and their wives. 7 

" Truly, but they pay their wives, their sisters, and their daughters, 
a poor compliment ! Is. then, this vaunted chastity a mere thing of 
circumstance and occasion ? Is there but the difference of opportu- 
nity between it and prostitution ! Would their wives, and their 
sisters, and their daughters, if once absolved from the fear of offspring, 
all become prostitutes, and sell their embrace for gold, and descend 



58 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



to a level with the most degraded ? In truth, but they slander their 
own kindred : they libel their own wives, sisters, and daughters. If 
they spoke truth— if fear were indeed the only safeguard of their 
relatives' chastity, little value should I place on virtue like that ! and 
small would I esteem his offence who should attempt to seduce it. 

" That chastity which is worth preserving is not the chastity that 
owes its birth to fear and to ignorance. If to enlighten a woman re- 
garding a simple physiological fact will make her a prostitute, she 
must be especially predisposed to profligacy. But it is a libel on the 
sex. Few, indeed, there are who would continue so miserable and 
degrading a calling, could they but escape from it. For one prosti- 
tute that is made by inclination, ten are made by necessity. Reform 
the laws — equalize the comforts of society, and you need withhold no 
knowledge from your wives and daughters. It is want, not know- 
ledge, that leads to prostitution. 

" For myself, I would withhold from no sister, or daughter, or wife 
of mine, any ascertained fact whatever. It should be to me a duty 
and a pleasure to communicate to them all I knew myself; and I 
should hold it an insult to their understandings and their hearts to 
imagine that their virtue would diminish as their knowledge increased. 
Vice is never the offspring of just knowledge : and they who say it 
is, slander their own nature. Would we but trust human nature, 
instead of continually suspecting it, and guarding it by bolts and bars, 
and thinking to make it very chaste by keeping it very ignorant, 
what a different world we should have of it ! The virtue of ignorance 
is a sickly plant, ever exposed to the caterpillar of corruption, liable 
to be scorched and blasted even by the free light of heaven ; of pre- 
carious growth ; and even if at last artificially matured, of little or no 
real value. 

" I know that parents often think it right and proper to withhold 
from their children — especially from their daughters— facts the mosi 
influential on their future lives, and the knowledge of which is essen- 
tial to every man and woman's well-being. Such a course has evei 
appeared to me ill-judged, and productive of very injurious effects. 
A girl is surely no whit the better for believing until her marriage 
night, that children are found among the cabbage-leaves in the gar- 
den. The imagination is excited, the curiosity kept continually on 
the stretch ; and that which, if simply explained, would have been 
recollected only as any other physiological phenomenon, assumes all 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 59 



the rank and importance and engrossing interest of a mystery* Nay, 
I am well convinced, that mere curiosity has often led ignorant young 
people into situations, from which a little more confidence and open- 
ness on the part of their parents and guardians would have effectually 
secured them. 

" There are other considerations connected with this subject which 
farther attest the social advantages of the control I advocate. Human 
affections are mutable, and the sincerest of moral resolutions may 
change. Every day furnishes instances of alienations, and of separa- 
tions ; sometimes almost before the honey-moon is well expired. In 
such cases of unsuitability, it cannot be considered desirable that 
there should be offspring ; and the power of refraining from becom- 
ing parents until intimacy had. in a measure, established the likeli- 
hood of permanent harmony of views and feelings, must be confessed 
to be advantageous. 

" It would be impossible to meet every argument in detail which 
ingenuity or prejudice might put forward. If the world were not 
actually afraid to think freely, or to listen to the suggestions of com- 
mon sense, three-fourths of what has already been said would be 
superfluous ; for most of the arguments employed would occur spon- 
taneously to any rational, reasoning being. But the mass of man- 
kind have still, in a measure, every thing to learn on this subject. 
The world seems to me much to resemble a company of gourmands, 
who sit down to a plentiful repast, first very punctiliously saying 
grace over it ; and then, under the sanction of the priest's blessing, 
think to gorge themselves with impunity ; as conceiving, that glut- 
tony after grace is no sin. So it is with popular customs and popular 
morality : every thing is permitted, if external forms be but respect- 
ed. Legal roguery is no crime, and ceremony-sanctioned excess no 
profligacy. The substance is sacrificed to the form, the virtue to the 
outward observance. The world troubles its head little about 
whether a man be honest or dishonest, so he knows how to avoid the 
penitentiary and escape the hangman. In like manner, the world 
seldom thinks it worth while to inquire whether a man be temperate 
or intemperate, prudent or thoughtless. It takes especial care to in- 
form itself whether in all things he conforms to orthodox require- 
ments ; and tf he does, all is right. Thus men too often learn to con- 
sider an oath an absolution from all subsequent decencies and duties, 
and a full release from all responsibilities. If a husband maltreat 



60 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



his wife, the offence is venal ; for he premised it by making her at 
the altar an 'honest woman. 7 If a married father neglects his children, 
it is a trifle ; for grace was regularly said before they were born. 

" With snch a world as this it is a difficult matter to reason. After 
listening to all I have said, it may perhaps cut me short by remind- 
ing me that nature herself declares it to be right and proper that we 
should reproduce our species without calculation or restraint. I will 
ask, in reply, whether nature also declares it to be right and proper 
that, when the thermometer isat96<>,we should drink greedily of 
cold water, and drop down dead in the street? Let the world be told, 
that if nature gave us our passions and propensities, she gave us also 
the power wisely to control them ; and that, when we hesitate to 
exercise that power, we descend to a level with the brute creation 
and become the sport of fortune — the mere slaves of circumstance. 

" It now remains, after having spoken of the desirability of obtain- 
ing control over the instinct of reproduction, to speak of its practi- 
cability. 

" I have taken great pains to ascertain the opinions of the most en- 
lightened physicians of Great Britain and France on this subject, 
(opinions which popular prejudice will not permit them to offer public- 
ly in their works) ; and they all concur in admitting, what the ex- 
perience of the French nation positively proves, that man may have a 
perfect control over this instinct ; and that men and women may 
without any injury to health, or the slightest violence done to the 
m ral feelings, and with but small diminution to the pleasure which 
accompanies the gratification of the instinct, refrain at will from be- 
coming parents. It has chanced to me, also to win the confidence of 
several individuals, who have communicated to me, without reserve, 
their own experience : and all this has been corroborative of the same 
opinion. 

" However various and contradictory the different theories of gene- 
ration, almost all physiologists are agreed, that the entrance of the 
sperm itself (or of some volatile particles proceeding from it) into 
the uterus must precede conception. This it was that probably first 
suggested the possibility of preventing conception at all." 

We have quoted these extracts as presenting sound and substan- 
tial reasons for the prevention of pregnancy. A large volume might 
be written upon the subject, without exhausting the objections which 
might be foolishly raised against it, as well as setting forth the real 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 01 



benefits conferred thereby upon woman, and the propagation only of 
healthy, well-formed children, by parents with adequate means for 
their support. To sum up the argument why pregnancy should be 
prevented, the reason adduced would seem to be conclusive, in a 
moral, social and physological point of view. 

Morally. — Firstly. It induces early marriages, by removing the 
principal obstacle thereto, viz. : the fear of having offspring before 
the parents are in a pecuniary condition to support, rear and educate 
them. And, 

Secondly. By inducing early marriages, seductions would become 
less frequent, and consequently prostitution, comparatively, become 
extinct. 

Socially. — Firstly. Young men, instead of seeking excitement 
and amusement in the intoxicating cup, gaming, night carousals, 
brothels, etc., acquiring habits of dissipation, deadening alike to the 
keen, fresh susceptibilities belonging to youth — habits, too, which 
often cling to them in after life, habits which, perhaps, forever 
destroy their health — as tainting their constitution with some foul 
and incurable disease — would, with a view to early marriage, cul- 
tivate the social and domestic ties, while yet pure and uncontamin- 
ated by contact with the dissolute and vicious. And, 

Secondly. Young persons, even though with very limited means, 
nevertheless marry, and, by not becoming parents, be enabled, uni- 
tedly, to husband their resources, with the view to the bettering their 
condition pecuniarily ; in the mean time, and in the days of their 
youth, enjoying all those social endearments which each sex finds in 
the society of the other, where reciprocity of views, interests and 
feelings exists. So, too, those in middling circumstances would 
marry early, merely deferring an increase of family until they will 
have established themselves in some business, ere the constant ac- 
cumulating expenses of an increasing family encroaches upon, or eat 
up their small capital, the immediate incurrence of which thus early 
would, perhaps, forever destroy the means for the comfortable pro- 
vision of themselves, as also the future welfare of their children. 

Physiologically. — By inducing early marriages, the dire evils 
arising from promiscuous sexual intercourse with the tainted or dis- 
eased, will gradually disappear, and in a generation or two we 
would find springing up, in the place of the present sickly, puny 
race, a healthy, robust and pure generation. 



62 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



In regard to the morality of preventing conception, it is contend- 
ed that everything which tends to the amelioration of mankind, to 
improve their condition pecuniarly, can not be immoral. That the 
instinct of reproduction should be, like our other appetites and pas- 
sions, subject to the control of reason ; that when the gratification 
of this instinct results in evil effects, either to ourselves or our off- 
spring, or even to society, if such evil can be prevented, it is the 
obligation of morality that it should be. 

It is contended, again, that the use of a preventive to conception 
will make men and women rational, reflecting, thinking beings, re- 
gardful alike of their own welfare and the welfare of their offspring. 
That it will banish poverty, vice and profligacy, by enabling the 
poor to improve their pecuniary condition, and thus engendering 
habits of frugality, reflection and economy, which the prospect of 
future competency is so calculated to inspire. Vice, so often spring- 
ing from despair and hopeless poverty, will disappear, because the 
children, by reason of the competence and moral structure of the 
parents, will not in infancy be thrust upon the world, to mingle with 
the depraved and the licentious. Sexual profligacy and licentiousness 
will be checked as early marriages become more prevalent and uni- 
versal, as there then will exist no reasons, as now^why two persons, 
attached to each other, should not marry, refraining merely from be- 
coming parents. Dishonorable advances therefore would be spurn- 
ed, seductions thus have no existence, and prostitution, the offspring 
of seduction, would be unknown, and even the ravages of that dis- 
ease engendered by promiscuous sexual intercourse, now carrying 
off its tens of thousands, transmitting its pestiferous poison to thou- 
sands yet unborn, would entirely disappear. 

The able author thus concludes his views : 

" And now let my readers pause. Let them review the various 
arguments I have placed before them. Let them reflect how intim- 
ately the instinct of which I treat is connected with the social influ- 
ence, is it important that we should knew how to control and govern 
it ; that when we obtain such control we may save ourselves — and, 
what we ought to prize much more highly, may save our companions 
and our offspring from sufferings or misery ; that, by such know- 
ledge, the young may form virtuous connections, instead of becom- 
ing profligates or ascetics ; that, by it, early marriage is deprived of 
its heaviest consequences, and seduction of its sharpest sting ; that, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 63 



by it, man may be saved from moral ruin, and woman from desola- 
ting dishonor ; that by it the first pure affections may be soothed 
and satisfied, instead of being thwarted or destroyed- -let them call 
to mind all this, and let them say, whether the possession of such 
control be not a blessing to man. 

'* As to the cry which prejudice may raise against it, as being un- 
natural, it is just as unnatural (and no more so) as to refrain, in a 
sultry summer's day, from drinking, perhaps, more than a pint of 
water at a draught, which prudence tells us is enough, while inclina- 
tion would bid us drink a quart. All thwarting of any human wish 
or impulse may, in one sense, be called unnatural ; it is not, how- 
ever, ofttimes the less prudent and proper on that account." 

Have I not cited enough to prove that woman has a most perfect 
and undoubted right to do as she pleases about bearing children ? 
I think I have. And here let me warn against the use of the numer- 
ous quack nostrums, advertised as certain specifics in prevention of 
pregnancy, and procucing abortion. Their use is attended with 
great risk, and oftentimes the most dangerous results. Prevention 
pills and powders, taken internally by female, tend to disorganize the 
muscular fibres of the womb ; these are followed by female weak- 
nesses, and numberless diseases of the womb. The author of this 
work, in the long and extensive practice of his profession, had his 
attention drawn to this subject, as a prolific source of disease and 
misery, and made minute and persevering research into the various 
methods of insuring success. The results were not entirely satisfac- 
tory, as in many cases prevention was only secured at the expense 
of enjoyment and health, in both male and female ; therefore he re- 
solved to study out a more efficient plan himself. By avoiding the 
errors of other systems, he was enabled to perfect an ingenious 
means to be used by the female for the prevention of pregnancy, 
which is sure, as well as entirely harmless, and pleasing in its ac- 
tion. It can be carried about the person, and used without danger 
of discovery, even by the male. 

^ Those who desire this preventive can obtain it, with full direc- 
tions for use, by sending $5, inclosed in a letter, to my address, and 
I will immediately send the article desired by return mail. I would 
particularly impress upon our readers, that this is a totally new and 
sure means of prevention — a discovery of my own. It is no leaden 
syringe., or otherwise deliterious, poisonous mineral combination, or 



64 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

any other useless, hurtful, or deceptive article ; but, unlike anything 
else ever used, as much superior in its results as it is different. I 
can send it by mail in a well-sealed packet, secured from observa- 
tion. Address all letters to Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York City. 

Females who have suffered long from womb diseases, or other 
weaknesses peculiar to their sex, are assured that it is from their 
own neglect, if they continue to suffer after reading these pages. 
The doctor's success, in treating the peculiar class of complaints to 
which females are unfortunately predisposed, is unrivalled, and his 
remedies never fail of effecting a cure, even in the most confirmed 
cases. All diseases of this character, chronic or acute, easily and 
pleasantly treated. Ladies may rely upon the utmost delicacy being 
observed in the doctor's method of treating cases, and all confidence 
placed in him as under the seal of involiable secresy. Falling or In- 
flamation of the Womb, Diseases of the Bladder, Difficult or Irregu- 
lar Menstruation,, Fluor Albus or Whites, Sterility or Barrenness 
and all diseases to which females are liable, can be quickly and per- 
manently cured, by making known to me the symptoms of your com- 
plaint. Those who live at a distance, I will cheerfully communicate 
with by letter (I make no charge for advice), and medicines to suit 
each particular case, forwarded by express, well packed, and secure 
from observation. All letters should be addressed, plainly, as above, 
and the town, county, and State of the writer given. Address, 
Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York City. 



Natural and Celestial Magic. 

Bricks eighteen inches long, eight inches thick and twelve inches 
wide may be cast into moulds of the following substances : Band and 
refuse fourteen barrels, lime one barrel, let it be as wet as brick clay. 
Thus every poor man can raise a comfortable, and even magnificient 
habitation of his own without much labor or expense. 

To make Leather wear Forever. — Let it receive as much neats 
foot oil as it will take. If regularly repeated every three months, 
leather seems to be impervious to outward action, and will last for 
years. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 65 



Increase op Milk and Butter. — If cows are given four ounces of 
French boiled hemp seed, it will greatly increase the quantity of milk. 
If pans are turned over this milk for fifteen minutes when first milked, 
or till cold, the same milk will give double the quantity of butter. 

To prevent Cattle, Fowls, etc., from getting old. — If cattle are 
occasionally fed with a little of the extract of the June berry, it will 
renew or extend the period of their lives. I use it in connection with 
the vanilla bean, and I do know that the two in connection will pro- 
duce the most wonderful results. It will act on people the same as 
on the animal kingdom. New flax seed frequently given to cattle in 
small quantities will make them, whether young or old, or if as poor 
and thin as skeletons, soon to appear fat and healthy. Horse Jockies 
will make a note of this, but be careful and not deceive the inexperi- 
enced too much. 

To Raise Double Crops, &c, — Throw a solution of sulphur and 
salt on your dung, before you spread and plow it in. The same will 
cause double crops of grass, and in fact of every grain and vegetable 
that is raised, it is a hundred times better than plaster and guano 
mixed. 

To Bring Be id Trees to Life. — Bore a deep hole near the roots, 
and fill it nearly full of blue vitrol. If there is any life remaining in 
the roots it will soon be reinvigorated and flourish with exceeding 
beauty. It is by this process that different substances may be made 
to ascend through the sap of trees, and thus a given tree may be made 
to produce the fruit of all trees, vines, bushes and even vegetables, 
of the kinds that grow on top of the ground. 

To Catch Abundance of Fish, Eels. &c— Get over the water after 
dark with a light, and a dead fish that has been smeared with the juice 
of stinking gladwin. Directly the fish will gather around in great 
quantities, and immense numbers of them can easily be scooped up. 
Another curious thing of a like nature is, that when a black snake is 
killed in the day time hundreds of other black snakes will gather 
around him at night. Many kinds of serpents are attracted in a like 
manner. Who will say that here is not natural affinity, or Celestial 
and Terrestial magic. 

To Discover Things Lost, Stolen, or Hidden.— Learn the time and 
place the person losing was born under, and trace his horoscope. It 
will give the full particulars and where to find the lost article. 

To Raise Grass, Clover, Mushroons, &c, without Seed. — Spread 

5 



66 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



a little lime on waste moss ground and you will get an abundant crop 
of clover. Cow and horse manure mixed, will produce mushroons. 
Oats sown at the usual time, and kept beaten down or cropped down 
without getting ripe, will the next season from the same stalks pro- 
duce an abundant crop of rye. I can only account for these things 
upon the simple ground, that the most primitive types under a law to 
which that like production is subordinate, give birth to the type next 
above it, this again produced the next higher, and so on to the very 
highest known existence. It is well known that often when trees or 
forests are burned down that other species or genera of trees will rise 
in their stead, of course without seed. It is also well knowu to all 
learned physologists that the brain of mankind passes through the 
form, character and substance of seven different existences or types 
before we are allowed to breathe the breath of life. 

A Mode of Preparing Paper to Resist Water. — Plunge unsized 
paper, once or twice, into a solution of mastic, in oil of turpentine, 
and dry by a gentle heat. This has all ihe properties of writing pa- 
pers and may be used for that purpose. 

To Render Paper Fire-Proof. — Whether the paper be plain, writ- 
ten, printed or even marbled, stained or painted for paper hangings, 
dip it in a strong solution of alum water, and thoroughly dry it. In 
this state it will be fire-proof. 

A Composition to Render Wood Fire-Proof. — Disolve some moist 
gravelly earth, which has been previously well washed and cleared 
from any heterogeneous, matter in a solution of caustic alkali. The 
mixture, when spread upon wood, forms a virtrious coat, and is 
proof against fire and water. The cost of this process is very insig- 
nificant, compared with its great utility, being about thirty-eight 
cents for every hundred square feet. 

Paste for Sharpening Razors.— Take one ounce of pulverized 
oxide of tin, and mix with it a sufficient quantity of the saturated 
solution of oxalic acid to form a paste. Rub it over the strop, and 
when dry, a little water may be added. It gives a fine edge to a 
razor. 

To Prepare Water-Proof Boots. — Take three ounces of sperma- 
ceti, and melt it in an earthen pot over a slow fire ; add thereto six 
drachms of India rubber cut into slices, and after it dissolves add of 
tallow eight ounces ; hogs lard two ounces ; amber varnish, four 
ounces ; mix it, and it will be fit for use immediately. . 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 67 



An Apparition of a Ship . in the Air. — In 1547 a ship with many 
passengers set sail from New Haven. In the next spring no tidings 
came from Europe of Capt. Lamberton and his vessel. New 
Haven's heart began to fail. In the June ensuing a great thunder 
storm arose, and the lost ship appeared at the mouth of the harbor, 
all sails set, the children cried out, there is a brave ship, and the 
people blessed God and rejoiced. At last when the ship was appar- 
ently so near the wharf that a stone might be thrown on board of 
her, her main top seemed to be blown off and left hanging in the 
shrouds, then all her upper works seemed to be blown away. Soon 
after her hull seemed to settle and vanished into a passing cloud. 
This was the very model of the lost ship and doubtless her tragic 
end. Here we have spiritual, natural, and celestial affinity. The 
above is narrated by the Rev. James Pierpont. 

To Cause Various Dreams. — Before you retire eat a little balm. 
Pleasant sights will appear in your dreams, as fields, gardens, trees 
and flowers, you feel that you see and behold the whole face of liv- 
ing nature. If you use oil of poplar and Balm of Gilead when 
awake, it enables you to see and behold all things in nature and to 
foretell things to come. Dark and troublesome dreams are brought 
about by eating French beans, leeks, weabi :e and new red wine. 
You will think you are being carried into the air, with lightning and 
fearful apparitions. 

To Make Barren Women Conceive. — They must drink sage tea of- 
ten and use pure salt. Plutarch says — Female mice will conceive 
only by licking salt. 

To Make the Face Clear and Beautiful like Silver, and to re- 
move spots, tan, pdiples, blotches, etc. — Wild tansy, horse radish 
and sweet milk seed as an ointment will truly do all that is above 
stated, it is also good for neck and hands. 

To Change the Color of the eyes. — Anoint the forehead with a 
solution from the ashes of hazel nut, and by its oil you can make the 
eye white, gray or black, varying by solution. 

The hair may be made to grow long and quickly by usins: an oint- 
ment of marsh mallows, lard, cummin seed, mastic and yolk of eggs. 
It may also thus obtain a durable and brilliant jet black, auburn, or 
as desired. Any one who may have been as bald as a sheet of p per 
for years, are informed that I can give a beautiful head of rich black 



68 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



hair by the above means. Persons who suffer from baldness, will do 
well to correspond with me. 

HOW TO CONTRACT FROM BEING OVER- WIDENED IN CONFINEMENT, ETC. 

— Kotula, an ancient writer, says, we may honestly speak of this, as 
conception is often hindered by it. The antidote is gall, sumac, 
plantain and comohy in extract or solution. Anoint the parts. 
When used a few times their result is permanent, and no person can 
tell but what one is still a virgin. 

To Change the Human Features. — To look pale, lean and old, or full 
pimples. The fumes of saffron, brimstone and sublimate of mercury, 
will do it. Then if the person acted on is put under the influence of 
lobion sulphuris, ether, or nervous ether, made from extract of opium 
and aconite, both of which are dangerous in the hands of an unskillful 
person, the person operated on will look as the operator shall think 
or wish them to look like, an act an animal and intimate the same 
in gesture, action, etc. If any one shall go into a church or any 
public assembly with an uncorked bottle of this subtile sub- 
stance, he can cause the preacher or speaker, or any one present, to 
do anything he desires. Ladies may thus be made to turn somersets 
in the streets, judges to quit the bench, prosecuting attorneys, etc., to 
quit business, and to laugh, dance and sing, as if they were a com- 
pany of jugglers or shaking quakers. There is nothing, absolutely 
nothing that the operator cannot make any one, or any number of 
people do. by the use of this subtle substance, together with a few 
other things. By combining spiritual influence with this means, all 
papers, goods, books, bonds, mortgages and signatures from all pa- 
pers can easily and quickly be removed, and no one but the opera- 
tor can ever know how, or by what means it was done. It is true 
that packages of money and other valuable papers are every day 
moved by invisible means from one place to another. It is true that 
the operator, or he who has this mixture with him, can go where he 
likes, without being seen or suspected, and to remove what he 
pleases, and no one can ever be the wiser of it except himself. He 
can travel on boats, stages, railroads, etc., without ever being seen. 
He can cause any one to do anything for him that he desires — 
whether male or female. He can cause the result to be temporary 
or permanent, just as he desires. He can inspire fear, terror or glad- 
ness, and can by the same means, a little varied, injure or kill people 
at whatever distance. Besides doing all of these wonderful things 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 69 



for sport, gain, profit and evil, he can also accomplish a vast amount 
of good by it. He can cure many diseases. I forbear to write any 
further on this subject, and would direct the reader's attention to the 
accompanying illustration, which shows the effects of this prepara- 
tion on a party of gentlemen who are amusing themselves by test- 
ing the experiment. But this is an article I would advise my 
readers not to meddle with ; in the hands of unskilful persons, it 
might be the means of producing a great deal of mischief. 

To Make the Human Face Grow. — The decoction of a chameleon, 
rubbed on the forehead, will make the eyes green. The hair of the 
head can be made to fall off by touching the body with the milk of 
boak or salamander. The leprosy, Pliny says, may be produced by 
similar means. Plutarch says that to soak a hen's egg in vinegar, 
the shell will soon get so soft as to be put into the smallest bottle. 
Also, that a hen ? s egg. kept in the spawn of the cuttlefish, will soon 
be larger than a man's head ; also, by a similar means, rats may be 
made to grow as big as horses. About the eggs. I believe that, for I 
have done it, but about the rats. I should like to have the privilege 
of seeing it, before I could say that I fully believe it. I will not fa- 
vor a deception if I know it to be such. 

To Make a Room seem all on Fire, fearful to behold. — Salam- 
moniac, half-an-ounce, camphor, one ounce ; burn it. Be careful that 
no woman with child is in the room. 

To Handle Fire without harm. — Quicksilver neutralized in vine- 
gar, and the white of an egg smeared on, will preserve anything from 
fire. These are ways by which conjurors, buffoons and mountebanks 
operate. There is, however, nothing natural or celestial about them. 
It is sheer trickery and deception. The laws of the several civilized 
nations have denounced them as impostors. 

To Make a Light burn forever without replenishing. — A lamp 
filled in a glass globe and arranged with pipes, so as to continually 
return the escaping substance of the oil back into the lamp again 
without any loss, will of course produce the above result. This then 
can be done. 

Fifty Hens' Eggs Changed into One Egg. — Break fifty eggs into a 
bowl, then put them into a bladder just the size and shape of an egg. 
Put the shells in vinegar, it will soon disolve them. With this solu- 
tion paint the bladder over a few times, and the egg-shell is formed 
perfectly. This is curious, but is none the less true. 



?0 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



To Fry Fish on Paper. — On white paper put oil or fat, and your 
fish. Set it on a slow fire of coals that has no flame, the fish will 
soon be well cooked. 

How to Roast Chickens without Fire. — Clean a chicken, and run 
a red-hot iron through his body, and cover it up with wet cloths. In 
a short time it will be well baked. 

How to Make a Bird or Chicken Roast himself. — The celebrated 
philosopher Albertus writes thus : — A fowl, that if a stick of witch 
hazel is ran through it, and it is hung before the fire, that the fowl 
will keep turning round till it is well roasted. 

To Cure Drunkenness. — Keep the patient for one week on nothing 
but liquor. This is a sure cure. Extract of calerwart will also cure 
it. Laziness is also cured by giving to the patient an occasional dose 
of ferri. The sulphate of ferri is the best. It acts on the liver and 
vital organs, and is a sure cure for Laziness. 

Living Creatures are drawn together by Sympathy. — Throw a 
chameleon into water, or sand, or chaff, weazels, nice, cats, fleas, 
frogs, rats, dogs, etc., are brought together, so that you can catch and 
destroy them. 

To Make Dogs and Cats Bewitched and Stupid. — The Ophrastus 
says the herb almerra will do it. Henbane will also do the same 
thing. A dog's color may be changed by quick lime and lithai age. 
A dog cannot run from you or bite you, if you have another dog's 
heart in your pocket. A bird cannot fly if you cut the upper and 
lower nerves of its wings. 

To Renew all Old or Defaced Letters and other Papers. — Boil 
galls in wine, and sponge over the surface, the letters or writing will 
be as fresh as ever. 

Images to Hang in the Air. — This is done by inverted mirrors. 
People, when walking, can be made to look as if they were upside 
down, and many other wonderful things may be produced. There is 
much deception about it, however. An image may be thrown upon 
any object in place of a dark night — terribly frightening those not 
knowing how done. 

To Alter the Human Face. — Anoint with shell of walnuts and 
pomegranates in vinegar, the face will be black. Oil of honey 
washes red and yellow color. 

To Make the Face Swelled, Pressed Down or Full op Scars. — 
Nothing deforms the countenance more than the stinging of bees. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 71 



Tumors and cavities are made by tithymot to the eyes, nose and 
mouth ; cantharides also alters the features. 

To Cure the Bite of Vipers, Scorpions, Lizards, Serpents and 
Snakes. — A few drops of ivy, almond wood, ash, juniper, elder wine 
and bay leaves, or an extract of these will soon cure any venom. 
Alexander the Great used to cure drunkeness by a similar means. 
The courage of men and armies, it is stated by Timotheus, may also 
be drawn out of them by things of nearly a like nature. 

A Simple, yet Curious Thing. — Any one may wet a thread with 
salt water, and suspend a button from a ceiling, and then burn the 
string to ashes, and yet the button will still hang. This is a strange 
thing to look at, yet it is easily seen that it is brought about on the 
gobule principle. And as in this case, so it is throughout the whole 
domain of natural and celestial philosophy, or, in other words, and 
which only means the same thing — natural and celestial magic. I 
wish to impress the public mind upon the fact, that all of these ap- 
parently curious things are brought about by natural and not su- 
pernatural means. 

To Multiply Trees without Seedlings or Grafts. — Clip off the 
last year's growth, and stick the cut end in pulverized blue vitriol, 
and then stick the end into a large potato and plant it. It will flour- 
ish like a rose, and grow four times as last, and bear more and bet- 
ter fruit than trees that are raised by what is called natural means. 
This is a discovery of my own, and I regard it as a great and valu- 
able one and worth more than a hundred times the price of this 
book. Salt, sprinkled on any kind of cabbage, or vegetables of any 
kind, will double the crop. All seeds by b ing soakt-d in a solution 
made from wine, mandrake, salammoniac and salt, lor a day before 
they are planted, will result in an early and a double crop on any 
soil ; some yields more than a double ciop. 

Do the Inhabitants of other Planets ever visit this Earth ? — I 
propose in this connection to make a few remarks on the following : 
Mr. Henry "Wallace and other persons of Jay, Ohio, have recent- 
ly detailed 1o me the annexed. There are thousands of such 
cases on record. These gentlemen state that sometimes since, on 
a clear and bright day, a shadow was thrown over the place where 
they were : this necessarily attracted their attention to the Heavens, 
where they, one and all beheld a large and curiously constructed 
vessel not over one hundred yards from the earth. They could 



12 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



plainly discern a large number of people on board of her, whose 
average height appeared to be about twelve feet. The vessel was 
evidently worked by wheels and other mechanical appendages all of 
which worked with a precision and a degree of beauty never yet at- 
tained by any mechanical skill upon this planet. 

Now I know that thousands will, at this recital, cry humbug, none- 
sense, lunacy, &c, but I know that there are other thousands who 
will read and reflect. It is for these latter thousands that I write. 
Once upon a time there appeared a celebrated reformer, who arose 
among the people and taught a new doctrine, that from its reasonable- 
ness and its simplicity, electrified the hearts of the thinking people. 
But the party who didn't think, and who hated reason, and new ideas, 
cried out away with him to the crucifixion. And they did crucify his 
body, but they have not yet succeeded in crucifying the reason and 
new facts and ideas that he taught. 

In view then of the above, I venture to advance the following re- 
marks, viz : — I believe that the time will come when all of the inhabit- 
ants of all worlds or planets in the solar system will regularly visit 
each other — when in the fullness or fruition of things, an interchange 
of ideas and commodities, visiting and greetings between the respect- 
ive inhabitants of all worlds or planets will be common and universal. 
I believe that the grand aspirations of an advanced humanity on this 
earth is not without a good cause and a good reason. I believe that 
when the respective atmospheres, seen surrounding the different 
planets in the solar system, indeed of every part of the universe, shall 
have passed into the higher condition of excellence and purity of 
which it is capable, that it will then give life to a more exalted and 
finished condition of genera and species, or inhabitants. That all of 
the planets are now inhabited by a kind of beings suited to their re- 
spective planetary and electrical conditions, is, I think, certain. And 
that the inhabitants of thousands of these worlds that roll with eternal 
beauty throughout the boundless regions of the immensity of space, 
have attained that advanced condition in their planetary being, I 
have no doubt whatever. And that this ship which Mr. Wallace and 
others seen, was from Venus, Mercury, or the planet Mars, on a visit 
of pleasure or exploration, or some other cause, I myself, with the 
evidence at hand, that I can bring to bear on it, have no more doubt 
of than I have of the fact of my own existence. This, mind, was no 
phantom that disappeared in a twinkling, as all phantoms do disap- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 73 



pear, but this aeriel ship was guided/ propelled and steered through 
the atmosphere with the most scientific system and regularity, at 
about six miles an hour, though doubtless, from the appearance of 
her machinery, she was capable of going thousands of miles an hour, 
and who knows but ten, yes, fifty or an hundred thousand miles an 
hour. And why then may not the scientific geniuses of other planets 
have done as much as ours have ? Besides this, if I had room I could 
draw an argument from the electrical condition of the media existing 
between the planets, to show that a body once in motion at a given 
distance from a planetary body in space, will move with nearly the 
speed of electricity till it meets again the resisting media or atmo- 
sphere of another planet or body in space. That all of this know- 
ledge, and a million of times more, may be known to some of the ex- 
alted beings of other planets in space, I have no doubt. But as I 
was saying, this aeriel ship moved directly off from the earth, and re- 
mained in sight, till by distance she was lost to the view. The fore- 
going is my firm and decided conclusion and belief in this matter. 

CHARMS, SPELLS, AND INCANTATIONS. 

Charms against Furious Beasts. — Repeat reverently, and with sin- 
cere faith, the following words, and you shall be protected in the hour 
of danger: — 

" At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh, neither shalt thou be 
afraid of the beasts of the earth. 

" For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field ; the beasts 
of the field shall be at peace with thee." 

Charm against Trouble in General. — Repeat reverently, and with 
sincere faith, the following words, and you shall be protected in the 
hour of danger : — 

" He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven there shall no 
evil touch thee. 

" In famine he shall redeem thee from death, and in war from the 
power of the sword. 

" And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shalt be peace, and thy. 
habitation shalt not err." 

Charm against Enemies. — Repeat reverently, and with sincere faith, 
the following words, and you shall be protected in the hour of 



14 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



" Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust, and not be afraid, for 
the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song ; he also is become 
my salvation. 

" For the stars of Heaven, and the constellations thereof, shall not 
give their light ; the sun shall be darkened in his going iorth, and 
the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 

" And behold, at evening tide, trouble : and before the morning he 
is not ; this in the portion of them that spoils us." 

Charm against Peril by Fire or Water.— Repeat reverently, and 
with sincere faith, the following words, and you shall be protected in 
the hour of danger : 

" When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and 
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest 
through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle 
upon thee." 

The Magic Torch — to Produce the Appearance of Serpents. — 
Take the skin of a serpent when first killed, and twist it up like cat- 
gut ; then take the blood and fat thereof, and mix them up with tal- 
low to make it of sufficient consistence ; then take a mould, such as 
. candles are made in, and fix the skin of the serpent as the wick, and 
pour in the fat, &c, as above prepared, which composition will then 
form a candle. The whole of this experiment must be performed 
when the sun is in the sign Scorpio. When this candle is thus lit in 
a close room, the place will appear filled with innumerable quantities 
of serpents in all parts thereof, to the great horror of the spectators ; 
and so perfect will be the appearance, that even the operator himself 
will be unable to withstand the force of imagination. 

Charms to Know who Your Husband shall be. — 1. On St. Agnes' 
Day. — This is to be attempted on the 21st of January, St. Agnes' day. 
You must prepare yourself by a twenty-fours' fast, touch nothing but 
pure spring water, beginning at midnight on the 20th to the same 
again on the on the 21st, then go to bed, and mind you sleep by your- 
self ; and do not mention what you are trying to any one, or it will 
break the spell ; go to rest on your left side, and repeat these lines 
yiree times : 

St. Agnes be a friend to me, 

In the gift I ask of thee ; 

Let me this night my husband see. 

And you will dream of your future spouse ; if you see more men 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 75 



than one in your dream, you will wed two or three times, but if you 
sleep and dream not, you will never marry. 

The Love-Letter Charm. — On receiving a love-letter that has any 
particular declaration in it, lay it wide open 5 then fold it in nine 
folds, pin it next to your heart, and thus wear it till bed-time, then 
place it in your left hand glove, and lay it under your head. If you 
dream of gold, diamonds, or any other costly gem, your lover is true, 
and means what he says, if of white linen, you will lose him by death; 
and if of flowers he will prove false. If you dream of his salu f ing 
you, he means not what he professes, and will draw you into a snare. 
If you dream of castles or a clear sky, there is no deceit, and you 
will prosper ; trees in blossom show children ; washing or graves 
show you will lose your lover by death ; and water shows that your 
lover is faithful, but that you will go through severe poverty with the 
party for sometime, though all may end well. 

To Know if a Woman will have a Girl or Boy.— Write the 
proper names of the father and mother, and the month she conceived 
with chili ; count the letters in these words, and divide the amount 
by seven ; and then if the remainder be even, it will be a girl, if un- 
even it will be a boy. 

To Know if a Child new-born shall live or not. — Write the 
proper names of the father and the mother, and of the day the child 
was born ; count the letters in these words, and to the amount add 
twenty-five, and then divide the whole by' seven ; if the remainder 
be even, the child shall die, but if i r be uneven, the child shall live. 

To Know How Soon a Person Will be Married. — Get a green 
pea-pod, in which are exactly nine peas ; hang it over the door and 
then take notice of the next person who comes in, who is not of the 
family, nor of the same sex with yourself, and if it proves an unmar- 
ried individual, you will certainly be married within that year. 

To Know what Fortune your future Husband will have. — Take 
a wall-nut, a hazel-nut and nutmeg 5 grate them together, and mix 
them with butter and sugar, and make them up into small pills, of 
which exactly nine must be taken on going to bed, and according to 
your dieams, so will be the state of the person you will marry. If a 
gentleman, your dream will be of riches : if a clergyman, of white 
linen ; if a lawyer, of darkness ; if a tradesmen, of cold noises and 
tumults ; if a soldier or sailor, of thunder and lightning ; if a servant, 
of rain. — 



16 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



PRECIOUS METALS, SECRET OF ITS ALLOYS. 

Gold, Silver, etc., fully and faithfully explained, with their 

general and commercial uses, etc. 

Artifical Gold. — Sixteen parts of virgin platina and seven parts 
of copper and one part of zinc. Put these into a covered crucible, 
with powdered charcoal, and melt them together till the whole forms 
one mass, and are thoroughly incorporated together. 

This also makes a gold of extraordinary beauty and value. It is 
not possible by any tests that chemists know of, to distinguish it from 
the pure virgin gold. 

Manheim or Jewelers' Gold. — Three parts of coppor, one part of 
zinc, and one part of block tin. If these are pure and melted in a 
covered crucible containing charcoal, the resemblance will be so 
good that the best judges cannot tell it from pure gold without ana- 
lyzing it. 

Best Pinchbeck Gold.— Five ounces of pure copper and one ounce 
of zinc. This makes gold set good to appearance, that a great deal 
of deception by its use in the way of watches and jewelry, has been 
successfully practiced for several hundred years back. 

Imitation of Pure Silver. — So perfect in its resemblance, that no 
chemist living can tell it from the pure virgin silver. It was obtain- 
ed from a German chemist, now dead, by the author of this book. He 
used it for unlawful purposes, to the amount of thousands, and yet 
the metal is so perfect that he was never discovered. It is all melted 
together in a crucible. Here it is : — 

Quarter of an ounce of copper, two ounces of brass, three ounces 
of pure silver, one ounce of bismuth, two ounces of common salt, one 
ounce of arsenic, one ounce of potash. 

To Change Mercury into Gold. — Take of fine gold a quarter of 
an ounce, mercury one ounce. Put both in a strong bottle, and her- 
metically seal the same. Put it into horse dung for ninety days. Take 
it out at the end of that time, and see what you have. Now pour on 
to it half its weight of sal ammonia. Now set it on the centre of a pot 
full of sand over a slow fire ; let them distil into a pure essence. 
Add to this compound two parts more of pure mercury ; hermetically 
seal your bottle again, and put it back into the horse dung for ninety 
days. Then take them out and see what you have— a pure etheral 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 77 

essence, which is the pure living gold, 24 carats fine. Pour this pure 
spiritual liquor out upon a drachm of molten fine gold, and you will 
find that which will satisfy your hunger and thirst after this grand 
secret. For the increase of your gold will seem miraculous, as indeed 
it is. Now take it to a jeweler or goldsmith : let them try it in your 
presence, and you will have good reason to bless God for being the 
recipient of superior wisdom. 

Pure German Silver. — Best copper, eight parts ; zinc, three and a 
half; nickel, three parts. If you make German silver in this way, it 
will be white and beautiful, and nearly like pure silver. This is done 
by the use of a crucible and heat of course. I do not speak of the 
common article. It is a cheap article, and the best is the cheapest of 
anything. This, like any other metal, may of course be easily plated 
with pure silver, if required. 

How to Increase the Weight of Gold. — I take the following 
from natural and celestial magic in twenty books published by the 
celebrated John Baptista Porta, at London, in 1658. Here it is : — 

" Take your bar of gold and rub it long and carefully with thin 
silver until the gold absorb the quantity of silver that you require. 
Then prepare a strong solution of brimstone and quicklime. Now 
put the gold into a vessel with a wide mouth. Now let them boil till 
the gold attain the right color, and you have it, but do not use this 
knowledge for an ill purpose." 

Olden Superstitions of the Power of the Serpent, its Wonder- 
ful and Magical Virtues ; Plants, Animals, Stones, Crystals, etc. 
— Hippocrates, by the use of some parts of this animal, attained to 
himself divine honors; for -there with he cured pestilence and conta- 
gion, consumptions, and very many other diseases, for he cleansed 
the flesh of a viper. The utmost part of the tail and head being cut 
off, he stripped off the skin, casting away the bowels and gall ; he 
reserved of the intestines only the heart and liver ; he drew out all 
the blood, with the vein running down the back bone ; he bruised 
the flesh and the aforesaid bowels with the bones, and dried them in 
a warm oven until they could be powdered, which powder he sprink- 
led on honey ; being clarified and boiled until he knew that the flesh 
in boiling had cast aside their virtue, as well in the broth as in the 
vapors ; he then added the spices of his country to cloak the secret. 

Amber is an amulet ; a piece of red amber worn about one, is a 
preventive against poisons. 



78 THE MAGIC WAND, AND* 



Likewise a sapphire stone is as effectual. Oil of amber, or amber 
dissolved in pure spirits of wine, comforts the womb being disorder- 
ed, if a fumigation of it be made with the warts of the shank of a horse, 
it will cure many disorders of that region. 

The liver and gall of an eel, likewise, being gradually dried and 
reduced to powder, and taken in the quantity of a filbert nut, in a 
glass of warm wine, cause a speedy and safe delivery. 

Rhubarb, on account of its violent antipathy, wonderfully purges. 
Music is a well-known specific for curing the bite of insects ; likewise, 
water cures the hydrophobia. Warts are cured by paring off the 
same ; or by burying as many pebbles, secretly, as the party has 
warts. The" king's-evil may be cured by the heart of a toad worn 
about the neck, first being dried. Hippomanes excites lust by the 
bare touch, or being suspended on the party. If any one shall spit 
in the hand with which he struck or hurt another, so shall the wound 
be cured ; likewise, if any one shall draw the halter wherewith a 
malefactor was hung across the throat of one who has the quinsey, it 
certainly cures him in three hours ; also, the herb cinque foil being 
gathered before the sun, one leaf thereof cures the tertian, and four 
the quartan ague. Rape seed sown with cursings and imprecations, 
grows the fairer, and thrives, but with praises the reverse. The 
juice of deadly nightshade, distilled, and given in a proportionate 
quantity, makes the party imagine almost whatever you choose. The 
herb nip, being heated in the hand, and afterwards you hold in your 
hand the hand of any other party, they shall never quit you so long 
as you retain that herb. The herbs arsemart, comfrey, flaxwood, 
dragon wort, adder's tongue, being steeped in cold water, and for 
some time applied on a wound or ulcer, they grow warm, and, buried 
in a muddy place, cureth the wound or sore to which they were ap- 
plied. Again, if any one pluck the leaves of asarabacca, drawing 
them upwards, they will purge another, who is ignorant of the draw- 
ing, by vomit only ; but if they are wrestled downward to the earth, 
they purge by stool. A sapphire or a stone that is of a deep blue 
color, if it be rubbed on a tumor, wherein the plague discovers itself 
(before the party is too far gone) and by and by it be removed from 
the >ick, the absent jewel attracts all the poison or contagion there- 
from. And thus much is sufficient to be said concerning natural oc- 
cult virtues, where of we speak in a mixed and miscellaneous manner. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 79 



Of the Art of Fascination, Binding, Sorceries, Magical Confec- 
tions, Lights, Candles, Images, Lamps, etc. — We have so far spoken 
concerning the great virtues and wonderful efficacy of natural things, 
it remains now that we speak of a wonderful power and faculty of 
fascination ; or, more properly, a magical and occult binding of men 
into love or hatred, sickness or health ; also, the binding of thieves, 
that they cannot steal in any place, or to bind them that they cannot 
remove, from whence they may be detected ; the binding of merchants 
that they cannot buy nor sell ; the binding of an army that they can- 
not pass any bounds ; the binding of ships, so that no wind, ever so 
strong, shall be able to carry them out of that harbor ; the binding 
of a mill, that it cannot, by any means whatsoever, be turned to work; 
the binding of a cistern or fountain, that the water cannot be drawn 
up out of them ; the binding of the ground, so that nothing can be 
built upon it ; the binding of fire, that, though it be ever so strong, it 
shall burn no combustible things that is put to it ; also, the binding 
of lightning and tempests, that they shall do no hurt ; the binding of 
dogs, that they cannot bark ; also, the binding of birds and wild 
beasts, that they shall not be able to run or fly away ; and things 
similar to these, which are hardly creditable, yet known by experi- 
ence. Now how it is these kind of bindings are made and brought to 
pass, we must know. They are thus done ; by sorceries, collyries, 
unguents, potions, binding to and hanging up of talismans, by charms, 
incantations, strong imaginations, affections, passions, images, char- 
acters, enchantments, imprecations, lights, and by sounds, numbers, 
words, names, invocations, swearings, and conjurations. 

Hippomanes. — Poison is in them — they are a poison to poisonous 
creatures. We next come to speak of hippomanes, which, amongst 
sorceries, are not accounted the least ; and this is a little venomous 
piece of flesh, the size of a fig, and black, which is in the forehead of 
a colt newly foaled, which, unless the mare herself does presently 
eat, she will hardly ever love her foals, or let them suck ; and this 
is a most powerful philter to cause love, if it be powdered, and 
drank in a cup with the blood of him that is in love. Such a potion 
was given by Medea to Jason. 

There is another sorcery which is called hippomanes, viz : a veno- 
mous liquor issuing from the mare at the time she is lusting after the 
horse. The civet cat, also, abounds with sorceries ; for the posts of 
a door being touched with her blood, the arts of jugglers and sorcer- 



80 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



ers are so invalid that evil spirts can by no means be called up, or 
compelled to talk with them : this is Pliny's report. Also, those that 
are annointed with the oil of her feet, being boiled with the ashes of 
the ancle-bone of the same and the blood of a weasel, shall become 
odious to all. The same, also, is to be done with the eye being de- 
cocted. If any one has a little of the strait-gut of this animal adout 
him. and it is bound to the left arm, it is a charm ; that if he boes 
but look upon a woman, it will cause her to follow him at all oppor- 
tunities : and the skin of this animal's forehead withstands witch- 
craft. 

We next come to speak of the blood of a basilisk, which magicians 
call the blood of Saturn. This procures (by its virtue) for him that 
carries it about him, good success of petitions from great men ; like- 
wise makes him amazingly successful in the cure of disease, and the 
grant of any privilege. They say, also, that a stone bitten by a mad 
dog causes discord, if it be put into drinks ; and if any one shall 
put the tongue of a clog, dried, into his wshoe, or some of the powder, 
no dog is able to bark at him who has it ; and more powerful this, if 
the herb hound's tongue be put with it. And the membrane of the 
secudine does the same ; likewise will not bark at him who has the 
heart of a dog in his pocket. 

The red toad (Pliny says) living in briars and brambles, is full of 
sorceries, and is capable of wonderful things. There is a little bone in 
his left side, which being cast into cold water, makes it presently hot 
by which, also the rage of dogs are restrained, and their love procur- 
ed if it be put in their drink, making them faithful and serviceable ; 
if it be bound to a woman, it stirs up lust. On the contrary, the 
bone which is on the right side makes hot water cold, and it binds so 
that no heat can make it hot while it there remains. It is a certain 
cure for quartans, if it be bound to the sick in a snake's skin 5 and 
likewise cures all fevers, the St. Anthony's fire, and restrains lust. 
And the spleen and heart are effectual antidotes of the said toad. 
Thus much Pliny writes. 

Also it is said, that the sword with which a man is slain has won- 
derful power ; ior if the snaffle of a bridle or bit or spurs, be made 
of it, with these a horse ever so wild is tamed, and made gentle and 
obedient. They say, if we dip a sword, with which any one was be- 
headed, in wine, that it cures the quartan, the sick being given to 
drink of it. There is a liquor made, by which men are made as ra- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 81 



ging and furious as a bear, imagining themselves in every respect to 
be changed into one ; and this is done, while the force operates ; he 
will fancy every living creature to be just like himself; neither can 
anything divert or cure him till the fumes of the liquor are entirely 
expanded. This is wonderful and strictly true. 

Of the Occult Virtue of things which are Inherent ln them only 
in their Life-time, and such as remain in them even after Death. — 
Democritus writes, that if any one should take out the tongue of a 
water -frog, no other part of the animal sticking to it, and lay it upon 
the place where the heart beats of a woman, she is compelled, 
against her will, to answer whatever you shall as her. Also, take 
the eyes of a frog, which must be extracted before sunrise, and 
bound to the sick party, and the frog to be let go blind into 
the water again, the party shall be cured of ague ; also, the same 
will, being bound with the flesh of a nightingale, in the skin of a 
hart, keep a person always wakeful, without sleeping. Also, the roe 
of the fork fish being bound to the naval, is said to cause women an 
easy child-birth, if it be taken from it alive, and the fish put into the 
sea again. So the right eye of a serpent being applied to the sore- 
ness of eyes cures the same, if the serpent be let sro alive. So, like- 
wise, the tooth of a mole being taken out alive, and afterwards let 
go, cures the tooth-ache ; and dogs will never bark at those who 
have the tail of a weasel that has escaped. Democritus says, that if 
the tongue of the chameleon be taken alive, it conduces to good suc- 
cess in trials and likewise to women in labor. 

There are many properties that remain after death, and these are 
things in which the idea of the matter is less swallowed up, accord- 
ing to Plato, in them ; even after death, that which is immoral in 
them Will work some wonderful things, as in the skin of several wild 
beasts, which will corrode and eat one another after death ; also a 
drum made of the rocket fish drives all creeping things at what dis- 
tance soever the sound of it is heard, and the strings of an instru- 
ment made of the guts of of a wolf, and being strained upon a harp 
or lute, with strings made of sheep-guts, will make no harmony. But 
the gut of a cat is infinitely delightful. 

Paracelsus and Helmont both agree, that in the toad, although so 
irreverent to the sight of man, and so noxious to the touch, and ot 
sueh strong violent antipathy to the blood of man, I say, out of this 
hatred, Divine Providence has prepared a remedy against manifold 

6 



82 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



diseases most inimical to man's nature. The toad has a natural 
aversion to man, and this sealed image or idea of hatred he carries 
in his head and eyes, and most powerfully throughout his whole 
body. 

A Series of Wonderful Cures Effected by the Powers of Nat- 
ural and Celestial Magic. — Helmont mentions a stone he saw, and 
had in his possession, which cured all disorders, the plague not ex- 
cepted. I shall relate the circumstances in his own words, which are 
as follows : 

" There was a certain Irishman, whose name was Butler, being 
sometime great with James, King of England, he being detained in 
the prison of the Castle of Vilvord ; and taking pity on one Baillius, 
a certain Franciscan monk, a most famous preacher of Gallo Britain, 
who was also imprisoned, having an erysiplas in his arm. On a cer- 
tain evening, when the monk did almost despair, he swiftly tinged a 
certain stone in a spoonful of almond milk, and presently withdrew 
it thence. So he says to the keeper : — " Reach this supping to that 
poor monk, and how much soever he shall take thereupon, he shall 
be whole, at least within a short hour's space." Which thing even so 
came to pass, to fhe great admiration of the keeper and the sick 
man, not knowing from whence so sudden health shone upon him, 
seeing that he was ignorant that he had taken anything, for his left 
arm being before hugely swollen, fell down as that it could scarcely 
be discerned from the other. On the morning following, I, being en- 
treated by some great men, came to Yilvord, as a witness of his 
deeds ; therefore I contracted a friendship with Butler. Soon after- 
wards I saw a poor old woman, a laundress, who, from the age of 
sixteen years, had labored with an intolerable megrim, cured in my 
presence. Indeed, he, by the way, lightly dipped the same little 
stone in a spoonful of oil of olives, and presently cleansed the same 
stone by licking it with his tongue, and laid it up in his snuff-box ; 
but that spoonful of oil, whereof only one drop he commanded to 
be anointed over the head of the aforesaid old woman, was thus 
thereby straightway cured and remained whole, which I attest I was 
amazed." 

Prophyry considered that, by certain vapors exhaled from proper 
fumigations, aerial spirits are raised, also, thunder and lightning, and 
the like : as the liver of a chameleon, being burnt on the house top, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 83 

will raise showers and lightning, the same effect has the head and 
throat, if they are burnt with oaken wood. 

And there is another yet more wonderful. If any one shall take 
images, artificially painted, or written letters, and, in a clear night, 
set them against the beams of the full moon, these resemblances be- 
ing multiplied in the air, and caught upwards, and reflected back to- 
gether with the beams of the moon, another man, that is knowing to 
the thing, at a long distance, sees, reads, and knows them in the 
very compass and circle of the moon, which art of declaring secrets 
is indeed very profitable for towns and cities that are besieged, be- 
ing a thing which Pythagoras long since did, and which is not un- 
known to many in these days. 

There are some fumigations under the influence of the stars, that 
cause images of spirits to appear in the air or elsewhere ; if corri- 
ander, smallage, henbane and hemlock be made to fume, by invoca- 
tions, spirits will soon come together, being the vapors which are 
most congruous to their own natures ; hence they are called the 
herbs of the spirits. Also, if a fume be made of the root of the 
reedy herb sagapen, with the juice of hemlock and henbane, and the 
herb tapfus barbatus, red sanders and black poppy, it will likewise 
make strange shapes appear, but if a suffume be made of smallage, 
it chases them away, and destroys their visions. Again, if a perfume 
be made of calimint, cinny, mint and palma christi, it drives away 
all evil spirits and vain imaginations. Likewise, by certain fumes, 
animals are gathered together and put to flight. Pliny mentions con- 
cerning the stone liparis, that with the fume thereof, all beasts are 
attracted together. The bones in the upper part of the throat of a 
hart being burnt, bring serpents together ; but the horn of a hart being 
burnt, chases away the same ; likewise, a fume of peacock's feathers 
does the same. Also, the lungs of an ass being burnt, puts all poi- 
sonous things to flight ; so does red pepper. 

Now there are certain fumigations used to almost all our instru- 
ments of magic, such as images, rings, etc. For some of the magi- 
cians say, that if any one shall hide gold or silver, or any other such 
like precious thing, (the moon being in conjunction with the sun), 
and shall perfume the place with corriander, saffron, henbane, small- 
age and black poppy, of each the same quantity, and bruised to- 
gether, and tempered with the juce of hemlock, that thing which is 
so hid shall never be taken away therefrom, but that spirits shall con- 



84 THE MAGIC WAND ; AND 



tinually keep it ; and if any one shall endeavor to take it away by 
force, they shall be hurt, or struck with a frenzy, or become sick. And 
Hermes says, there is nothing like the fume of spermaceti for the rais- 
ing up of spirits, therefore, if a fume be made of lignum aloes, pep- 
per-wort, musk, saffron and red storax, together with the blood of a 
lap-wing, it will quickly gather airy spirits to. the place where it is 
used ; and if it be used about the graves of the dead, it will attract 
spirits thither. 

The learned Procius gives an example of a spirit that appeared in 
the form of a lion, furious and raging, by setting a white cock before 
the apparition it soon vanished away, because there is so great a 
contrariety between a cock and a lion — and let this suffice for a gen- 
eral observation in these kind of things. 

By what means Magicians and Nercomamcers call forth the 
Souls of Dead. — It is manifest that the souls after death do as yet 
love their bodies which they left, as those souls do whose bodies 
want due burial, or have left their bodies by violent death, and yet 
wander about their carcasses in a troubled and moist spirit, beings, 
as it were, allured by something that has an affinity with them, the 
means being known, by which, in time past, they were joined to their 
bodies, they may be called forth and allured by the like vapors, 
liquors and certain artificial lights, songs, sounds, etc., which moves 
the imaginative and spiritual harmony of the soul, and sacred invo- 
cations, etc. 

Necromancy has its name because it works on the bodies of the 
dead, and gives answers by apparitions of the dead, and subterane- 
ous spirits, alluring them into the carcasses of the dead by charms, 
and infernal invocations, and by deadly sacrifices and wicked ob- 
lations. 

There are two kinds of necromancy : raising the carcasses, which 
is not done without blood ; the other in which the calling up of the 
shadow only suffices. To conclude, it works all its experiments by 
the carcasses of the slain and their bones and members, and what is 
from them. 

Dismissing now the discourse of ancient writers upon the subject 
of sorcery and alchemy. I will disclose to my readers some of the 
wonderful feats of the wizards of our own times. These tricks when 
performed in a skillful manner, will amuse and mystify all who be- 
hold them. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 85 



The Invisible Chicken or Enchanted Egg-Bag.— You must pro- 
vide two or three yards of calico, or printed linen, and make a double 
bag. On the mouth of the bag, on that side next to you, make four 
or five little purses, putting two or three eggs in each purse, and do 
so till you have filled that side next to you. and have a hole in one 
end of it, that no more than two or three eggs may come out at once, 
having another made exactly like the former, that the one may not be 
known from the other ; and then put a living hen into that bag, and 
hang it on a hook near where you stand. The manner of performing 
it is this : — Take the egg-bag, and put both your hands in it, and turn 
it inside out and sav, '-Gentlemen, you see there is nothing in my 
bag ;" and in turning it again you must slip some of the eggs out of 
the purses, as many as you think fit ; and then turn your bag again, 
and show the company that it is empty, and turning it again, you 
command more eggs to come out ; and when all are come out but 
one, you must take that egg and show it to the company, and then 
drop away your egg-bag and take up your hen-bag, shaking out your 
hen. pigeon, or any other fowl. This is a noble fancy if well handled. 

How to make a Person Jump. — This feat is more for pastime than 
any thing else. You must have a post of about five or six inches 
long, and get it turned hollow throughout, so that you may have a 
screw made just to fit, and then put a needle at each end of the screw, 
and have two holes so contrived in the post that you may fasten two 
strings in the screw, so as when you pull on one end of the string, the 
needle will run into your thumb, which will cause great laughter to 
the company. 

Scrap, or Blowing-Book. — Take a book seven inches long, and 
about five inches broad, and let there be forty-nine leaves, that is 
seven times seven contained therein, so as you may cut upon the edges 
of each leaf six notches, each notch in depth of a quarter of an inch, 
with a gouge made for that purpose, and let them be one inch dis- 
tant ; paint every thirteenth or fourteenth page, which is the end of 
every sixth leaf and beginning of every seventh, with like colors or 
pictures ; cut off with a pair of scissors every notch of the first leaf, 
leaving one inch of paper, which will remain half a quarter of an inch 
above that leaf ; leave another like inch in the second part of the 
second leaf, clipping away an inch of paper in the highest place above 
it, and all notches below the same, and orderly to the third and fourth, 
so that there shall rest upon each leaf only one nick of paper above 



86 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



the rest, one high uncut, an inch of paper must answer to the first 
directly, so as when you have cut the first seven leaves in such a 
manner as described, you are to begin the self same order at the 
eighth leaf, descending the same manner to the cutting other seven 
leaves to twenty-one, until you have passed through every leaf all 
the thickness of your book. 

Gun Cotton — How Prepared.— The cotton used for this purpose 
must be free from all extraneous matter. It is desirable to operate 
on the clean fibres of cotton in a dry state, by means of nitric and 
sulphuric acid. These are mixed together in one part nitric to three 
of sulphuric — in any vessel not liable to be affected by the acids. A 
great degree oi heat being generated by the mixture, it is left to cool 
until its temperature falls to fifty degrees Fahrenheit. The cotton is 
then immersed in it ; and, in order that it may become thoroughly 
saturated with the acids, it is stirred with a glass rod. The cotton 
should be introduced in as open a state as practicable. The acids 
are then drawn off, and the cotton gently pressed to take out the 
acids, after which it is covered up in the vessel and allowed to stand 
sixty to eighty minutes ; it is then washed in a continuous flow of 
water until the presence of the acids is not indicated by the test of 
litmus paper ; dip the cotton in a weak solution of carbonate of pot- 
ash ; that will remove any portion of the acids that may remain ; when 
dry the cotton can be used in the above state ; but to increase its ex- 
plosive power, dip it in a weak solution of nitrate of pqtash, then dry 
in an oven heated by hot air or steam to about one hundred and fifty 
degrees Fahrenheit. — 

SYMPATHETIC INKS. 

For yellow. — Write with muriate of antimony ; when dry wash with 
tincture of galls. 

Black. — Write with a solution of green vitrol, and wash with tinc- 
ture of galls. 

Blue. — Nitrate of cobalt, and wash with oxalic acid. 

Yellow. — Subacetate of lead, wash with hydrochloric acid. 

Green. — Arsenate of potash, wash with nitrate of copper. 

Brown. — Prussiate of potash is the wash over nitrate of copper. 

Purple. — Solution of gold and muriate of tin. 

Black. — Perchloride of mercury ; the wash is hydrochloride of tin. 

Sympathetic Lamp. — This lamp is put upon a table ; the conjuror 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 87 



gives a signal to the confederate to blow in a pipe, without directing 
the wind to the place where it is laid, and nevertheless it extinguishes 
it immediately, as if some person had blown it out. Explanation — 
The candlestick which bears the lamp, contains a pair of bellows in 
its basis, by which the wind is conveyed straight to the flame through 
a little pipe. The confederate, under the floor,*or behind the curtain, 
in moving the machinery concealed under the table, makes the bel- 
lows blow to extinguish the lamp in the moment desired. 

The Gas Candle. — Provide a strong glass bottle which will contain 
about eight ounces, or half a pint, into which put a fewpeices of zinc ; 
then mix half an ounce of sulphuric acid with four ounces of water, 
pour it into the bottle upon the zinc ; fit the mouth closely with a 
cork, through which put a metal tube which ends upwards in a fine 
opening ; the mixture in the bottle will soon effervesce, and hydro- 
gen gas will" rise through the tube. When it has escaped for about a 
minute, apply a lighted taper to the tube, and the gas will burn like 
a candle, but with a pale flame. Its brightness may be increased to 
brilliancy, by sifting over it a small quantity of magnesia. 

Ice made in a red hot Vessel. — Take a platinum cup and heat it 
red hot ; in it pour a small quantity of water ; then the same quan- 
tity of sulphuric acid ; a sudden evaporation will ensue, then invert 
the cup and a small mass of ice will drop out. The principle is this : 
sulphuric acid has the property of boiling water when it is at a tem- 
perature below the freezing point, and when poured in a heated ves- 
sel, the suddenness of the evaporation occasions a degree of cold suf- 
ficient to freeze water. 

Liquid carbonic acid takes a high position for its freezing qualities. 
In drawing this curious liquid fiom its powerful reservoirs it evapo- 
rates so rapidly as to freeze, and it is then a light porous mass like 
snow. If a small quantity of this is drenched with ether, the degree 
of cold produced is even more intolerable to the touch than boiling 
water. A drop or two of this mixture produces blister, just as if the 
skin had been burned. It will freeze mercury in five to ten minutes. 

Magical Colors. — Put half a table-spoonful of syrup of violets, and 
three table-spoonfuls of water into a glass, stir them well together 
with a stick, and put half the mixture into another glass. If you add 
a few drops of acid of vitrol into one of the glasses and stir it, it will 
be changed into a crimson. Put a few drops of fixed alkali dissolved 
into another glass, and when you stir it, it will change to green. If 



88 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



you drop slowly into the green liquor from the side of the glass a few 
drops of acid oi vitrol, you will perceive crimson at the bottom, pur- 
ple in the middle, and green at the top ; and by adding a little fixed 
alkali dissolved to the other glass, the same colors will appear in 
different order. 

The Magic Nosegay Blowing at the Word of Command. — The 
branches of this nosegay may be made of rolled paper, of tin, or any 
other matter whatever, provided they be hollow or empty. They 
must, in the first place, he pierced in several places, in order to apply 
to them little masses of wax, representing flowers and fruits. Second- 
ly, this wax must be enveloped with some gummed taffety, or a very 
thin gold-beater's skin. Thirdly, these envelopings must be quickly 
glued to the branches, so as to seem a part of them, or at least a pro- 
longation. Fourthly, the colors of the flowers and fruits they repre- 
sent, must be given them. Fifthly, the wax must be heated till it 
melts, and runs down the branches and handle of the nosegay. 

After this preparation, if you pump the air through the stem of the 
nosegay, the envelopings will of course contract themselves, so as- to 
appear withered, etc., and as you blow, the wind penetrating into the 
ramifications of the branches, the envelopings, like little aerostatical 
balloons, dilate themselves so as to resume their primitive and blow- 
ing appearance. 

To perform this trick you must begin by twisting and dressing 
lightly all these envelopings, and render them almost invisible, by 
making them to enter into the branches of the nosegay ; then the 
nosegay must be placed in a kind of bottle, containing a little pair 
or bellows, and of which the moveable bottom being put in motion 
by the machinery in the table, may swell the envelopings at the mo- 
ment required. 

Theory of the Jew's Harp. — If you cause the tongue of this little 
instrument to vibrate, it will produce a very low sound ; but if you 
place it before a cavity (as the mouth,) containing a column of air, 
which vibrates much faster, but in the proportioa of any simple mul- 
tiple, it will then produce other and higher sounds, dependent upon 
the reciprocation of that portion of the air. Now the bulk of air in 
the mouth can be altered in its force, size, and other circumstances, 
so as to produce by reciprocation, many different sounds ; and these 
are the sounds belonging to the Jew's Harp. 

How to eat Fjre. — Anoint your tongue with liquid storax, and 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 89 



you may put red hot iron or fire coals into yonr mouth, and without 
burning you. This is a very dangerous trick to be done, and those who 
practice it ought to use all means they can to prevent danger. I nev- 
er saw one of those fire-eaters that had a good complexion. 

The Miniature River on Fire. — Let fall a few drops of phosphor" 
ized ether on a lump of loaf sugar, place the sugar in a bowl of warm 
water, and a beautiful appearance will be instantly exhibited ; the 
effect will be increased if the surface of the water, by blowing gently 
with the breath, be made to undulate. 

The Dancing Card. — One of the company is desired to draw a card* 
which the conjuror shuffles again with the others, and then orders it 
to appear upon the wall ; the card instantly obeys, then advancing 
by degrees and according to orders, it ascends in a straight line, from 
right to left ; it disappears on the top of the wall, and a moment after 
it appears asrain, and continues to dance upon a horizontal line, etc., 
etc. This trick is simple. It consists, in the first place, in obtaining 
a forced card drawn, which is easily known by the card being larger 
than the rest ; after having shuffled it with the others, it is taken out 
of the pack, the better to impose upon the company. The instant it 
is ordered to appear on the wall, the compeer or invisible agent very 
expertly draws a thread, at the end of which is fastened a simliar 
card, which comes out from behind a glass ; another thread drawn 
very tight, on which it slides, by the means of some very small silk 
rings fastened, running thereon, prescribes its motion and progress. 

Gun Trick.— Having provided yourself with a fowling-piece, permit 
any person to load it, retaining for yourself the privilege of putting 
in the ball, to the evident satisfaction of the company, but instead of 
which you must provide yourself with an artificial one made of black 
lead, which may be easily concealed between your fingers, and retain 
the real ball in your possession, producing it after the gun has been 
discharged ; and a mark having been previously put upon it, it will 
instantly be acknowledged. This trick is quite 'simple, as the artifi- 
cial ball is easily reduced to a powder on the application of a ram 
rod ; besides, the smallness of the balls preclude all discovery of the 
deception. 

The Invisible Springs. — Take two pieces of white cotton corcl , pre- 
cisely alike in length ; double each of them seperately, so that their 
ends meet ; then tie them together very neatly, with a bit of fine cot- 



90 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



ton thread, at the part where they double, (i. e. the middle.) This 
must all be done beforehand. 

When you are about to exhibit the sleight, hand round two other 
pieces of cord exactly similar in length and appearance to those which 
you have prepared, but not tied, and desire your company to examine 
them. You then return to your table, placing these cords at the edge, 
so that they may fall (apparently accidently) to the ground behind 
the table ; stoop to pick them up, but take up the prepared ones in- 
stead, which you have previously placed there, and lay them on the 
table. 

Having proceeded thus far, you take round for examination three 
ivory rings ; those given to children when teething, and may be 
bought at any toy shops, are the best for your purpose. When the 
rings have undergone a sufficient scrutiny, pass the prepared double 
cords through them, and give the two ends of one cord to one person 
to hold, and the two ends of the other to another. Do not let them 
pull hard, or the thread will break, and your trick be discovered. Re- 
quest the two persons to approach each other, and desire each to give 
you one end of the cord which he holds, leaving to him the choice. 
You then say, that, to make all fast, you will tie these two ends to- 
gether, which you do, bringing the knot down so as to touch the 
rings, and returning to each person the end of the cord next to him, 
you state that this trick is performed by the rule of contrary, and that 
when you desire them to pull hard, they are to slacken, and vice versa, 
which is likely to create much laughter, as they are certain of making 
many mistakes at first. 

During this time you are holding the rings on the forefinger of each 
hand, and with the other fingers preventing your assistants seperat- 
ing the cords prematurely, during their mistakes ; you at length 
desire them, in a loud voice, to slacken, when they will pull hard, 
which will break the thread, the rings remaining in your hands, whilst 
the strings will remain unbroken ; let them be again examine J, and 
desire them to look for the springs in the rings. 

The Vicar Puffed. — This is an amusing toy, at which the sternest 
philosopher, nay, even Heraclitis, of weeping memory, could not re- 
frain* from laughing at. It is a small ball of India rubber, on which 
is painted a true likeness of the parish parson, or some person who is 
well known, it is then fixed to a forcing air syringe, by which the ball 
is easily distended ; and as the air is forced into the ball, it becomes 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 91 



. gradually increased in magnitude, swelling like the gourd ot Jonah ; 
the countenance of the vicar, parson, or other person, expands till it 
has attained the prodigious size of the full moon, still retaining all the 
character and expression of the features, without any alteration 
whatever; the countenance thus being swelled to ten times its 
original dimensions, is sufficient to make a company shout with good 
humor, till they are actually convulsed with laughter. 

Combustion in and under Water — Will-o'-the wisp. — Take a glass 
tumbler three parts filled with water, and drop into it two or three 
lumps of phosphutet of lime ; a decomposition will take place, and 
phosphuretted hydrogen gas be produced, bubbles of which will 
rise through the water, and taking fire immediately, they burst 
through the surface, terminating in beautiful ringlets of smoke, 
which wilt continue until the phosphuret of lime is exhausted. 

Fill a saucer with water, and let fall into it a grain or two of po- 
tassium ; the potassium will instantly burst into flame, with a slight 
explosion, and burn vividly on the surface of the*water, darting at 
the same time from one side of the vessel to the other, with great 
violence, in the form of a beautiful red hot fire-ball. 

Tele Magician's Snowball. — Take a cup and fill it with rice, then 
change it into a handkerchief. To do this trick you have two cups 
(tin) made to fit one within the other, but let the outside cup be 
about two inches deeper than the inside one ; let the rims be turned 
square down all round, but let that of the inside cup be a trifle 
larger than the outside one, so that when the tin cover (which you 
must also have) is put over them it will fit sufficiently tight to lift out 
the inside cup when it is taken off. Previous to performing this trick 
you must place in the bottom of the deep cup a white pocket hand- 
kerchief, then place the other cup in it, after which bring it out in 
presence of the audience, then fill the inside cup (which to the audi- 
ence appears to be the only cup) with rice, place tne cover over it, 
after which repeat the mystic words Presto, PraciUo, Pass, then re- 
move the cover and the inside cup will have stuck to it and be con- 
cealed from view, now take out the handkerchief, and it will greatly 
. astonish those who see it. 

The Astonishing Hindoo Miracle. — Take a child and place it on a 
table, then turn a basket over it, the child cries, the performer grows 
indignant, and pierces a sword through the basket, the child shrieks 



92 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

and apparently struggles in death, the sword is withdrawn and blood 
drips from it, the basket is removed but no child is to be seen. To 
do this trick, you have to use the trick-table, and also have a con- 
federate ; the table is made with a trap-door, fastened on the under- 
side of the table ; the child is trained up to the trick, conseqently 
knows when to cry and when not ; the child is placed upon the table 
on the trap-door, at which time it commences to cry ; a basket is 
then placed over it, on the inside of which, and next to the perform 
er, is fastened a piece of common sponge saturated with blood or its 
representative, while the performer is making preparation to com- 
plete the trick, his confederate opens the trap-door of the table and 
lets the child down, but leaves the door open, the child still con 
tinues to cry. the performer apparently becomes indignant, and takes 
a sword and pierces it through the basket, and at the same time 
through the sponge saturated with blood, at which time the child 
shrieks, then the confederate closes the door, which gives the sound 
of the child a dying appearance ; after the sword is withdrawn, the 
blood that was in the sponge is that which drips from it. This trick 
produces more terrific sensation than almost any other trick that is 
performed. 

To kill a Bird and restore it to Life again. — To do this trick you 
must have a box put together with screws ; one end, however, has 
but one screw on each side, which acts as a hinge for the end to work 
on, but, that it may have the appearance of being solid you put in 
two false screws below those on which ^ the end works ; in each end 
of the box there is a ring. To make it appear to the audience that 
you actually restore life to a bird, you must have two birds just 
alike ; you have one secreted under the table, (trick-table ;) youthen 
in presence of the audience kill the other, and request some one to 
put it in this box and put the top on the box ; after they have put 
the top on, you take the box and set it on your trick table, then take 
your handkerchief and tie one corner to the ring that is in the solid 
end of the box, and then bring your handkerchief over the top of 
the box and pretend to be tying the other corner to the other ring, 
but before you tie it, push the end of the box in and take out the 
dead bird, at the same time put in the live one, then catching the 
ring, pull out the end and tie the handkerchief in that ring also ; 
then take the box and turn it over a time or two, after which remove 
the handkerchief and ask some one to take the top off the box, and 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 93 



as he does, out flies the living bird, which greatly astonishes those 
who witness the trick. 

To Change Salt to Sugar. — This, as the two preceding tricks, and 
many others that might be mentioned if necessary, is done with the 
same box, except after you have placed a cup of salt in the box, and 
you have tied the handkerchief over it as in the bird trick, you then 
take a little lump of sugar and place it on the top of the box, after 
which say some mystic words, then take the handkerchief off, and ask 
some one to lift the top off and take out the cup of salt, which to 
their astonishment is a cup of sugar. 

Turning a Glove into a Bird, etc. — This is done precisely in the 
same way, and with the same box that restoring life to a bird is done, 
except instead of killing a bird, you borrow a glove from a lady 
present, and drop it into the. box, then proceed as in the above trick. 

The Magic Re\g. — Make a ring large enough to go on the second or 
third finger, in which let there be set a large transparent stone, to 
the bottom of which must be fixed a small piece of black silk, that 
may be either drawn aside or expanded by turning the stone round. 
Under the silk is to be the figure of a small card. 

Then make a person draw the same sort of card as that at the bot- 
tom of the ring, and tell him to burn it with the candle. Having 
first shown him the ring, you take part of the burnt card, and reduc- 
ing it to powder, you rub the stone with it, and at the same time turn 
it artfully about, so that the small card at the bottom may come in 
view. 

The Card ln the Opera Glass.— Provide an opera glass about two 
inches and a half long, the tube of which is to be of ivory, and so 
thin that the light may pass through it. In this tube place a lens of 
two inches and a quarter focus, so that a card of about three-quar- 
ters of an inch long may appear the size of a common card. At the 
bottom of the tube there is to be a circle of black paste-board, to 
which must be fastened a small card with figures on both sides, by 
two threads of silk, in such manner that, by turning the tube, either 
side of the card may be visible. 

Yen then offer two cards in a pack to two persons, which they are 
to draw, and that are the same as those in the glass. After which 
you' show each of them the card he has drawn, in the glass by turn- 
ing it to the proper position. 



94 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



The better to induce the parties to draw the two cards, place them 
first on the top of the pack, and then by making the pass bring them, 
to the middle. When yon can make the pass in a dexterous manner, 
it is preferable, on many occasions, to the long card, which obliges 
you to change the pack frequently ; for otherwise, it would be ob- 
served that the same card is always drawn, and doubtless occasion 
suspicion. 

The Inexhaustible Bottle. — This well-known trick has many 
puzzling points for those who witness M'Alister, Wyman or Anderson 
pour over one hundred glasses of liquor from a small bottle ; and, 
what adds to the astonishment of the audience, is to see ten or 
twenty kinds flow from the same bottle. This trick is thus explain- 
ed : The glasses are so small that a quart bottle will fill seventy-five 
or a hundred; the glasses are arranged *on a tray in a particular 
manner by the wizard before the performance begins. The bottle is 
filled with the following mixture: spirits of wine, water and sugar ; 
in the bottom of each glass is a drop or two of Paul de Veres' Fla- 
voring Extract, as Noyeau, Vanilla, Lemon, Punch, Essence of 
Brandy, Port, Sherry, etc. You are thus enabled to convert a toler- 
able resemblance of any fluid that is likely to be called for, and you 
can thus supply more than one hundred persons a half sip of their 
favorite beverage from the inexhaustible bottle. 

To Melt a Coin in a Nut-shell. — Take three parts of nitre, freed 
from its water of crystalization, and one of very fine dry saw-dust, 
and rub them intimately together. If a portion of this powder be 
pressed down in a walnut shell, and a small silver or copper coin, 
rolled up, be laid on the powder, and then the shell be filled with 
more powder, pressed down closely, and then ignited, the coin will 
be found melted at the bottom, whilst the shell will only be 
blackened. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 95 



A Competence within the reach of all. 

MONEY-MAKING PURSUITS FOR THE HONEST AND 
INDUSTRIOUS. 

PROCESS SIMPLE — PROFITS ENORMOUS ! 

Having discovered, after years of patient labor, a great deal of 
chemical analysis and experiments, and much sacrifice of money and 
valuable time, a method of making a superior article of Northern 
Honey, I have secured my discovery by copyright, and as the law of 
copyright is arbitrary, and the penalties it imposes for the slightest 
infringment of its provisions are heavy, the reader will readily under- 
stand why I am secure in the possession my recipe. 

There are persons who offer recipes of a similar, character. These 
persons have stolen a certain portion of my recipe, but not daring to 
copy it entire, the processes they sell are. of course, entirely icorthless, 
as many, to their cost, disappointment, and mortification, have already 
ascertained. I do not particularly complain of these swindling imi- 
tations—all useful and meritorious discoveries are imitated ; — the loss 
falls upon the public, and not me. I only mention these facts in order 
that those who have not yet been victimized may avoid the sweetened 
baits spread to catch them. 

You are well aware that Honey is an article which should be in 
every household, and would be if everybody could procure it at a 
moderate cost and without inconvenience. As a luxury, as a neces- 
sity in the sick chamber, as a health conferring article of food, as an 
elegant and delightful article of edible furniture for the table, Honey 
cannot be too highly extolled, or too eagerly sought after. But it has 
been so scarce, and so difficult of manufacture — for that is the proper 
term — that thousands have given up the idea of making use of it. 

The troubles and trials of bee-raisers are proverbial. It is about 
as difficult to manage a few hives of bees successfully, as it is to take 
charge properly of a cotton-mill. Before a man can raise bees, and 
manufacture their Honey into a marketable shape, he has grown gray; 
and after he has acquired this knowledge, of what benefit is it ? The 
little Honey he can raise is not sufficient to feed him, or clothe him, 



96 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



or even (after the value of his time has been deducted) finding him 
in spending-money, 

I have shortened nature's process of manufacturing this delightful 
article. My discovery embraces the- art of making Honey precisely as 
thebees make it. with, of course, none of the risks, labor, and other 
disadvantages attendant on the hive method. I am at liberty to men- 
tion here that one of the ingredients I use is the powdered bark of the 
slippery elm a small quantity of which will bring up a pail full of warm 
water to the rich, creamy substantial consistency of Honey. The medical 
value of this bark is known to everybody in the land. Even the wo- 
men and the children are aware that it tones up the sinking system, 
gives strength to the weak, good spirits to the strong, purifies the 
blood of the scrofulous, restores appetite to the dyspeptic, &c. It is 
even given to infants with advantage. I refer to these truths to keep 
you in mind of the excellent health-preserving and sickness-dispelling 
qualities of the Honey made in accordance with my recipe. Many 
methods of making imitations of natural products embody hurtful 
substance ; you are respectfully admonished to bear in mind that all 
my ingredients are not only articles highly recommended for their 
utility, but also known as favorite articles in use with almost every- 
body. 

There are seven other ingredients besides that I have specified with- 
out any one of which it would be impossible to give to any composi- 
tion the true flavor, consistency, and chemical embodiment of North- 
ern Honey. The lack of the smallest pivot will render a watch 
worthless : remember that. My Honey has been tested by agricul- 
turists, chemists, and others interested, at the request of heads of 
families and physicians, and in every case it has passed the ordeal 
triumphantly. 

The superiority of my Honey having been establised to (I hope) 
your satisfaction, let me now proceed to enumerate the Profits and 
Advantages of engaging in its manufacture. All sweets are exceed- 
ingly dear, and the prospect is that they will be dearer before they 
are cheaper. My Honey is, at the sale price, the cheapest sweefr or 
saccharine article in the market, in any part of the world. 

One hundred pounds of Honey can be made, by a compliance with 
the instructions embraced in my recipe, in twenty minutes. In five 
hours you can make, by this process, more pure and delicious Honey 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 97 



than all the bee-raisers in the United States can gather and prepare 
for sale in as many years ! 

The net cost of making my Honey is six cents the pound. It will 
sell anywhere, in as large quantities as you choose to make it, for 
twenty-five cents the pound. There is no disputing this fact. It is 
self-evident. The profit, therefore, may be safely and undeniably 
pronounced enormous ! For six dollars — a very moderate invest- 
ment, and one made without the slightest risk, and without any labor 
worth thinking of— you get twenty-five dollars, and so on, in propor- 
tion to the capital you employ. Show me any safe, reputable business 
that pays one quarter as well. There may be speculations of an im- 
proper character that make similar yields, but here is a business that 
is creditable, and imposes respect, rather than shame, upon those who 
follow it. 

Apart from its usefulness, it is likely to gain great popularity 
among housekeepers, as an elegant tea-table and dessert accompani- 
ment. It looks like amber — clear, fresh (another advantage over the 
crude, fermenting product of the hive), and tempting as Olympian 
Ambrosia ! It will take the place of preserves wherever it may be 
introduced. 

As a matter of economy it will supersede the use of butter in many 
households. 

No apparatus is required for making it, except that which is found 
in any farmer's or other ordinary kitchen. It is apparent, without 
the employment of figures, in making estimates of the consumption 
of Honey, in every populous town, that double the amount of money 
may be realized, by any person who will devote his attention to its 
manufacture as a business, of that named in the advertisement to 
which your attention was called, and upon which your communica- 
tion to me was founded. 

Upon the receipt of 39 cents, I will send you a small pot, con- 
taining a sample of the Honey made from this receipt, and when you 
are satisfied relative to the advantages to be derived from it disposal. 
I will sell you the receipt, and the exclusive right (in the form of a 
printed and sealed deed) to manufacture and sell it in a town, for five 
dollars. The reason why I require the 39 cents will be obvious, 
when I say that we have to pay the postage of the sample, which is 
a cheaper and safer way of sending it than by express. Stamps will 
answer the same purpose as silver. 

7 



98 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

I have referred to imitations of my receipe. A proof that all the 
talked-of processes purporting to be for the manufacture of Honey- 
are paltry imitations of mine, may be had by comparing the Honey 
made according to my directions, with that prepared from these bo- 
gus recipes. They will be found to compare as unfavorably with 
my Honey, as common molasses does to that refined by the sugar- 
house process. — 

RULES FOR THE SALE OF THE RECIPE. 

When I dispose of the right to manufacture and sell in a town, the 
name of the town and its purchaser is immediately put on record, so 
that any infringement on the right is readily detected. And every 
such infringement which shall come to my knowledge will meet with 
prompt legal attention. Every honorable purchaser will, therefore, 
comply with the terms of the circular, and not manufacture and sell 
in a town for which he has not paid me five dollars. I do not sell the 
exclusive right of large cities. 

Many have asked me why I will not take less than five dollars for 
the right to manufacture and sell in the small towns. I have but to 
say that the choice of the large towns is open to anybody, and that 
those who apply for the right to them first, will secure the most 
profit. As for taking less than five dollars, I cannot do it. The re- 
ceipe is worth that trifle for family use alone. 

N. B. — Those who may address me are requested to be particular 
and write the name of their town, county, State and my name and 
address, in plain characters, so as to prevent the possibility of any 
mistake. Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York. 

TESTLMONIALS. 

Eden, McKean, Co., Pa. 
Dear Sirs : — Yours, containing recipe, came duly to hand. I have 
made some of the honey, and found it all it was recommended to be. 
It is truly marvellous to contemplate how the science of chemistry 
can be made subservient to mans 7 wishes, in thus imitating so per- 
fectly the natural product of the busy bee. It sells very readily here 
at fair prices, and is preferred by many to the genuine article. 
Please let me know if you have sold the right of Burtville, if not, I 
will take it. Yours truly, J. D. Lefferts. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. ~ 99 

Lebanon, Pa. 
Dear Sirs : — The sample I sent for I have received safely by mail. 
I am very well pleased with the appearance and taste of the honey, 
and find it difficult to convince my folks that it is not a genuine arti- 
cle of superior flavor. I enclose $5, for which I wish you to send me 
recipe and right for this town, as I intend to go right to work in its 
manufacture and sale. Yours respectfully, A. E. Lawrence. 

WlLLIAMSPORT, Ind. 

• Dear Sirs : — The recipe, for making a superior article of honey, 
you sent me, I have used with the greatest success. My only pur- 
pose in sending for it was to make use of it in my own family, but it 
is so superior an article that I should find no difficulty in selling a 
larger quantity than I have hitherto made up. Write me the lowest 
price for the right of this county. If you have sold no other town 
rights in it yet, I shall want it. Yours truly, E. H. Wilkinson. 

Alba, Pa. 
Dear Sirs : — The honey made according to your recipe gives com- 
plete satisfaction to all who have tried it in this vicinity, and I am do- 
ing a good business in its manufacture and sale. I wish to extend 
my operations, however, and in this letter please find $5 for the right 
of Carbondale. This town, and the one I now have the right of, 
will give me sufficient employment for the present. Send me. etc. 
Yours truly, James Osborn. 

A Trade of a most Lucrative Character. — When I last had oc- 
cassion to visit Venice — ior with Byron I can say — 

"I stood in Venice, on the bridge of sighs, 
A palace and a prison on each hand," — 
I noticed that many persons who had an excellent education, dressed 
and lived well, and mixed in good society, were known to be without 
property. They had incomes, I was told, but no estates. A great 
many of these people would disappear from sight a day or two in 
the week and nobody knew where they went. Intact, this thing was 
so generally practised that none of the Venetians, from being used to 
it, paid any attention to the matter. Being a stranger, it naturally 
attracted my notice, and finally excited my curiosity vastly. I am of 
a very inquisitive turn of mind, as my readers are no doubt aware by 



100 * THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



this time. To learn every thing that seemed worth knowing, has 
been my motto through life, and I almost feel like welcoming death 
for the sake of penetrating the mysteries of the world of spirits. In 
the house where I lodged was an Adonis of a fellow, who had fine 
apartments, and who enjoyed all the creature comforts available in 
the city of the Adriatic. He dressed superbly, always had money, 
and lived altogether as well as many a small continental prince, but 
I was told he did not possess a ducat's worth of property. 

"Was he an opera singer?" I asked. "No." "A musician?" 
" No." " An author ?" " No." A politician ?" "No." " A govern- 
ment spy?" "No." "A gambler!" "No, no, no." 

Well, what could he be,, then? I thought and asked myself the 
question a thousand times. Surely he had not discovered the philoso- 
pher's stone, or found a gold mine ! His money must come from some- 
where, there was no denying that. I observed that he, too, was miss- 
ing two days of every week, and that none of my fellow-lodgers (se- 
veral of them had their days of disappearance also) chose to know or 
su>pect any thing of the nature of the business that occupied his at- 
tention during those curious days. 

I cultivated his acquaintace, and after a while succeeded in gain- 
ing his confidence. Finally I ventured, in a delicate manner, to in- 
troduce the subject of his absence from his outside haunts for two 
days of every week — speaking of it in a playful way, and skillfully 
alluding to the fact that I was a stranger, which accounted for rny in- 
quisitiveness. He seemed disconcerted at first, but in a few moments 
recovered his affability and equanimity of temper, and promised to 
satisfy my curiosity at his earliest convenience. 

About a week after this conversation was held he said to me, with 
a serious air : 

" To-morrow, I vanish again." 

" And the reasons — " I began. 

" Shall be made known to you then. At what time do you rise ?" 

" With the sun," I answered. 

" At sunrise, then, I will knock at the door of your chamber. You 
will be dressed." 

" Are we to go out, then ?" I asked. 

" Oh no ; you need not take off your robe de chambre ;" he replied 
with a smile. 

He was at my door the next morning at the appointed time, and it 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 101 



is perhaps needless to say that I was "up and dressed," waiting to 
receive him. In silence he conducted me to his own apartments, 
entered with me, and after carefully securing us from interruption by 
the aid of bolts and bars, bade me to be seated. Taking a seat beside 
me, he said : 

" You see. sigior, every man has his secret. Mine is life, wealth, 
every thing to me. I am the younger son of a noble family, the heads 
of which died in poverty, leaving me nothing but an excellent educa- 
tion and a robust constitution. I found it necessary to earn money 
in order that I might not starve, and I was determined to do so with- 
out sullying my family name by becoming a shopman, or a recognized 
mechanic. I also made up my mind to aviod continoi is, vulgar labor; 
in short, I settled, with myself to live like a gentleman, as a man of my 
birth ought to do. Perseverance will accomplish anything, moncher 
ami. After repeated failures, I hit upon a plan by which I am enabled 
to do all this and more. Look here." 

He arose from his seat, and pulled what had appeared to me to be 
a damask table-cloth spread over an ordinary table, a way from where 
it was lying, and revealed a neat stand, with drawers, etc. Upon this 
stand were lying, in various stages of preparation, a number of plates 
of glass. I approached and examined them. I had the secret of the 
Venetian's- income at once. He was an etcher and engraver on glass ! 
The art, he assured me, had for a long time been lost, but in looking 
over some old monkish MSS. he had been fortunate enough to acquire 
the information necessary to revive it. The etchings and engravings 
were most beautiful — better than any thing of the kind that could be 
imagined. I gazed upon them with unfeigned delight, while he went 
on talking, as follows : 

" This beautiful art, apparently so difficult, is as simple as the al- 
phabet. It involves no labor — indeed it is a splendid recreation. I 
can dispose of all I choose to do at the very highest prices, and still 
maintain my position in society, for I rank as an artist, and a superior 
one at that. Yet the whole art consists of a few words that can be 
written upon one of your pocket tablets. It comprises merely a 
chemical secret, readily understood by the commonest mind, and ac- 
complished, without previous study or preparation, by a pretty girl 
or any other individual. The process scarcely soils your hands, if 
you are careful enough to wear gloves. And now, signor, that you 
have my secret, keep it." 



102 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



" But the process — " I eagerly said. 

" Is known only to me of us two. I shall not disclose it." 

This declaration he made so abruptly, that I forbore to troible him 
any further upon the subject at that time. 

Two months after that I left Venice, never to return. Just as I was 
ready to start, my Adonis of a friend placed a neat little package in 
my hand, and bade me good-bye. I have never seen nor heard of him 
since. 

The package contained a full account of his process of etching and 
engraving on glass. I have it yet, and will dispose of it to any per- 
son who will send me two dollars. I will mail it to any part of the 
United States. It is so clearly written that there can be no difficulty 
in understanding it, and it is just as the Venetian said, as simple as 
it is beautiful. I should think that forty or fifty dollars a week 
could be easily made by it ; but that of course depends upon the in- 
telligence and aptitude of the person practicing it. The knowledge 
would not be dear at twenty times the sum I charge for it. 

To Engrave on steel and copper. — Most persons imagine that to 
be a good engraver on steel or copper, one must serve a tedious and la- 
borious apprenticeship, and that in order to obtain excellence in the 
practice of the craft, peculiar genius and taste must exist. All this 
is a gross mistake — one of those mistakes which, for want of pains 
are seldom or ever explained away. This one, however, I will ex- 
pose effectually. Steel a&l copper-plate engraving can be done by 
anybody over fifteen years of age, and I can teach the whole art in 
an hour. I have the whole process neatly printed. The explanation 
is thorough — not the smallest piece of information is left unsupplied, 
and with this bit of paper before you, and the brains to understand 
it, you can engrave on copper or steel with the best bank-note en- 
graver in the country. 

I am aware that this seems incredible — that it has an odor of hum- 
bug about it. But, dear reader, the humbug is not on ray side of the 
house ; but on your own. You have been giving credence to a hum- 
bug s oiy — a spurious tale of mystery — all your life, concerniug 
these arts, and now that I tell you it is no more difficult to engrave 
in the manner I have mentioned than it is to make a pudding, or 
compound a bar of soap, you feel inclined to doubt me. 

Well, doubt ; but you can have your doubts removed at small 
cost. I make you an offer publicly — an offer that common sense will 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 103 



tell you I would not dare to make if it were not a sound one. and I 
were not able to fulfill it to the letter — to teach you the mysteries of 
steel and copper-plate engraving at once. Upon receipt of my pro- 
cess you may at once proceed to engrave, and after a week's prac- 
tice you will be able to turn out plates as valuable and as service- 
able as any done by an ordinary engraver who has served a term of 
years as an apprentice. Some may not require a week's practice to 
do this, and others may require a fortnight's or a month's practice, 
but these latter people cannot be of my kind ; they must be exceed- 
ingly doltish, and ill-calculated to do anything above sawing wood 
or peeling potatoes. 

I have not room to tell how I became acquainted with these valu- 
able processes, nor is it necessary that I should. It is enough that I 
possess them. I will remark that these processes would be doubly 
serviceable to a wood engraver, or to persons who draw or paint 
well. By this I would not have it understood that they are not use- 
ful and renumerative to those who neither draw nor paint — for they 
are. 

The articles to be used for either etching or engraving on copper 
or steel (my processes tell how to do etching as weil as line engrav- 
ing) are not at all costly. The material that costs the most is the 
plate. The price of that, of course, depends upon the size. It is 
easily procured. 

These processes, inculcating in a few hours, two money-making 
arts, that it has cost its professors seasons of toil and thousands of 
dollars to learn — may be obtained for two dollars ($2). This sum en- 
closed to me with a postage stamp, will ensure the processes by re- 
turn of mail. It is needless to point out the advantages of such 
knowledge. The reader already understands and is prepared to ac- 
knowledge them. 



Anatomy of the Organs of Generation. 

The great importance of the organs of generation and their preser- 
vation in a state of health and vigor have been admitted by the con- 
current testimony of ancient and modern writers ; in fact, the due 
and proper performance of the special functions with which they are 



104 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



charged has ever been considered essentially necessary to the health 
and well being of the economy, both physical and mental. They are 
parts of admirable construction, form, and use ; and constitute a 
striking evidence of the wonderful skill and contrivance in the adapta- 
tion of a special mechanism in the system for the performance of one 
of ils most important and essential functions : — that of the propaga- 
tion of the species. Unequalled in the delicacy of their texture, and 
the comparative minuteness of their structure, their peculiar fitness 
for the functions assigned them in the economy, when they are in a 
state of perfect integrity, excites the astonishment and admiration, 
alike of the anatomist and the philosopher. Their very complexity, 
while it renders them liable to many disorders by any of which their 
utility may be impaired, is wisely rendered subservient to the im- 
portant purpose of seperating and purifying the vivifying fluid. 

Like that complex and delicate piece of machinery a watch, con- 
structed by human skill, the organs of generation in man, — a still 
more complex and more delicate apparatus, created by the divine 
will, — are liable to derangment and impairment of function and struc- 
ture from many causes, the nature and effects of which will be inves- 
tigated in the following pages. In order however that these may be 
fully and clearly understood, it will, we think, be advisable to preface 
the observations we propose hereafter to offer respecting them by 
some notice of the anatomical arrangement and physiological action 
of the organs which are immediately subservient to the function of 
generation, and also of those which are only indirectly connected 
therewith. 

The parts in man which are immediately connected with the func- 
tions just alluded to, are, as has been already stated, of a complex 
nature and very delicate structure. They consist of the testicles, by 
which the semen or seed is secreted, and of their appendages, through 
which the seminal fluid is transmitted to the urethra at its origin near 
the neck of the bladder and of the penis or yard, by means of which 
the act of copulation takes place, and through a canal in the under 
part of which, called the urethra, the seed is conveyed from the recep- 
tacles in which it is retained, to those organs of the female, which are 
engaged in the function of generation. 

The urinary organs, both in the male and female, may be regarded 
as subsidiary to this function, and many of the diseases to which they 
are liable exert a malificent influence on its performance, and not 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 105 

unfrequently produce impotence, either temporary or permanent, ac- 
cording to the nature and severity of the disease. 

The Kidneys, which are the organs solely engaged in the secretion 
of the urine, are glandular bodies of an oblong shape, seated on either 
side of the spine, upon and below the two last ribs, and behind the 
stomach and intestines ; the right kidney is also under the liver, when 
the man is in the erect position, and the left under the spleen : the 
right kidney is generally the lower and the larger. It is sail that 
these organs are more considerable in size in those persons, whose 
passions are very strong, and almost uncontrollable, than they are in 
those who, are less addicted to women. 

In shape the kidneys resembles the kidney-bean ; its structure is 
almost wholly made up of arteries, veins, and with a few small 
branches of nerves, derived partly from those which are connected 
with the ribs, and thence called intercostal, and partly from a branch 
from the stomach, thus causing a great sympathy between those or- 
gans. The arteries by which the kidneys are supplied with blood, 
which is partly used for the support of the organ, and partly for the 
secretion of urine, is derived directly from the aorta, or great artery 
of the body. When it enters the kidney, which it does about its 
middle, it divides into branches which again are divided into smaller 
ones, and these into still smaller, until they terminate in vessels so 
exceedingly minute as to be invisible to the naked eye. From these 
the veins are formed, and by these the urine is secreted, and falls by 
drops into a pouch which is situated about the middle or lower part 
of the organ, and which forms the commencement of the ureter. 
The veins joins the great cava vein, and discharges its blood into 
what is called by anatomists the great portal system by which it is 
conveyed to the liver, after this has been freed in the kidney from a 
certain portion of its serum, and also from certain salts. The nerves of 
the kidneys are few and small, so that the organ is not endowed with 
much sensation. 

The Ureters are long, hollow tubes, and constitute the continua- 
tion of the pelves of the kidneys. There is one on each side of the 
body, and they pass downwards, and slightly inwards to the back 
and lower parts of the bladder, which they pierce, running between 
its coats for about an inch, so that if the bladder should become ex- 
ceedingly distended, its contents would not be forced back into these 
tubes. They are well supplied with branches of arteries, veins and 



106 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



nerves, and their sensibility in a state of disease is considerable. 
Their use is to convey the urine from the kidney into the bladder. 

The Bladder is situated in that part of the body called the pelvis. 
It is of considerable size, and admits in some instances of distension 
to a degree that would hardly be credited, were it not a well-known 
fact. 

This power, however, is not acquired without considerable risk to 
health and life. This organ in man lies directly on his bowels, but 
in woman the womb intervenes between it and the rectum. It is of 
an oval shape, constitutes the great receptacle of the urine, which 
when it has collected to such an amount as to become a source of in- 
convenience, is by a voluntary effort got rid of through the urethra 
— a prolongation of the bladder commencing at its neck, and extend- 
ing along the under surface of the penis, as has been already stated. 
The bladder is well supplied with arteries, veins and nerves, and is 
very sensitive when in a state of disease. It has three coats, one of 
them being composed of muscular fibres ; its constriction causes the 
expulsion of the urine ; it has on that account been called the detru- 
sor urince. 

The neck of the bladder, which in man is longer and narrower, 
and in woman is shorter and wider, is surrounded by a sphincter 
muscle, by which the continued running away of the urine is pre- 
vented, unless from disease the muscle has become useless. 

The secretion or separation ot the urine from the blood by vessels 
appropriated for that purpose, constitute the principal functions of 
the kidney, The fluid, when secreted is carried along the ureters in- 
to the bladder — the great receptacle in which it is retained until from 
its state of distention, its evacuation by the urethra is required. 

The process by which the secretion of the urine is effected is one 
of exceeding interest, and admirably adapted to display the wisdom 
of the Divine machinist. The blood from which it is to be separated 
is conveyed to the organ, as has been already mentioned, by the renal 
artery, which divides into branches supplying different parts of the 
organ, and these again in their turn form arches of communication 
with each other, whence spring minute arteries or branchlets, these 
again constituting a complete network of vessels by a general inos- 
culation. They terminate in the commencement of veins, and also 
in uriniferous tubes by which latter the separation of the urine is 
effected. The crypts or cryptce, small round or oval bodies, which 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 107 



are found everywhere in the network of vessels just spoken of, and 
which consist almost solely of vessels, are by some supposed to be 
the origin of the uriniferous tubes. The tubes terminate in a mam- 
milliar process, which projects into a small membranous bag, called 
from its shape the infundibulus or funnel ; into this bag the urine 
passes from the uriniferous tubes, it is thence conveyed to the larger 
pouch called the pelvis, and afterwards -through the ureter into the 
bladder. Several of the tubes terminate in one mammilliar process, 
and so also several of the mammillar processes open into one infun- 
dibulum. The last named pouch, like the pelvis of the kidney, the 
ureters, bladder and urethra, is defended from the acrimony of the 
urine, by a secretion of mucus which lines and sheaths its inner 
coat. 

The quantity of urine, and the celerity with which it is passed af- 
ter certain fluids have been taken into the stomach, have induced in 
some persons a belief that vessels existed, but which have not yet 
been discovered, forming an immediate communication between ^he 
stomach and the bladder, unconnected with the kidneys. But the 
quickness with which flnids can be absorbed and conveyed to the 
thoracic ducts, the velocity of the circulation, and the great quantity 
of blood carried by the renal arteries to the kidneys, will account 
for the celerity with which urine separated, without having recourse 
to the supposition of unknown channels. From the extensive com- 
munication which the nerves of the kidneys have with those of the 
alimentary canal, it is not improbable that the secretion of urine 
from the blood may commence before the absorbents have time to 
carry any quantity of water, received into the stomach, into the 
blood-vessels : nature being aware that these vessels wonld be over- 
charged, did not a separation of some of the watery fluid already in 
them immediately begin. 

That the secretion of the kidneys is much influenced by passions 
and ideas of the mind we need only instance in proof, the effects of 
fear on quadrupeds, infants and even on adult men in suddenly in- 
creasing the quantity of urine, and producing an insurmountable de- 
sire to avoid it. In patients laboring under some difficulty from 
stricture in passing urine, the mind referring to the complaint will 
often greatly increase the secretion of that fluid, and multiply the 
calls to pass it from the body. This will be exemplified in a subse- 
quent chapter. 



108 ~ THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



The renal capsules are concavo-convex bodies, seated immediately 
above the kidneys, imbedded in fat, and freely supplied with blood 
principally from the renal artery, arising directly from the great ar- 
terial trunk, and from other vessels. Its nerves are derived from the 
great sympathetic. In the interior there is found a cavity, contain- 
ing a fluid of a dark saffron color, the use of which and of the renal 
capsule itself we are as yet ignorant of. 

The prostrate gland, of which we shall speak more fully, when 
treating of the anatomy of the organs specially concerned in genera- 
tion, is in immediate connection with the neck of the bladder ; al- 
though not in fact directly engaged in the process of generation, it is 
more intimately connected therewith, than any of the parts which 
have hitherto been considered. Under the same head the urethra 
may be regarded ; it is indeed more closely connected with genera- 
tion than the prostrate, inasmuch as the seed-receptacles open into it, 
and the seed itself is ejected through it. Although then the pros- 
trate and urethra constitute a portion and a very important one of 
the urinary organs, a description of their anatomy will be better un- 
derstood, after the organs specially engaged in the function of gen- 
eration, to wit, the testicles, deferent vessels, seminal receptacles, 
etc., have been described. 

The scrotum or purse, is a bag of skin, divided about the middle 
by a septum, so as to form two cavities in each of which a testicle 
is contained. The situation of this septum is marked externally by 
an irregular line called the raphe. The contraction or corrugation 
of the scrotum, which occurs at times, is said by some anatomists to 
depend on the action of a muscle which they call dartos. This how- 
ever is denied by others who do not admit the existence of this 
muscle. 

The testicles, or organs which secrete the semen, are nourished and 
supplied with blood by long and tenacious vessels which arise fi om 
the main arterial trunk, and are called the spermatic arteries ; the 
blood which they thus receive, serves for the elimination and secre- 
tion of the seed, — a process which is effected by the peculiar action 
of the testicles, and which secreting power affixes to these organs a 
value and importance in the human frame, not even second to that 
which attaches to those generally regarded by anatomists as the more 
noble, being those the destruction or serious impairment of the func- 
tions of which may involve loss of life. The value which men place 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 109 



on these organs (the testicles) is rendered evident by the fact that 
suicide is not unfrequently caused by their supposed or real imper- 
fection, and that men on whom the operation of castration has been 
performed, in consequence of cancerous or other serious diseases 
affecting the testicles, generally become moping and melancholy, and 
speedily perish. The same thing occurs when from a similar cause 
the penis has been amputated ; nor is the feeling of dejection and ex- 
treme wretchedness, consequent on these operations confined to per- 
sons in the prime of life, and previously in the full enjoyment of the 
functions of reproduction. Old men, even those in whom, from effects 
of advanced age, all desire and capacity for sexual intercourse have 
entirely ceased, when deprived of these organs by a surgical proceed- 
ing, fall the victims of an insatiable melancholy. 

Eunuchs, who have been castrated prior to the possession of those 
feelings which nature causes to spring up in man after the period of 
puberty, are of course not subject to the same degree of depression 
and wretchedness of mind and body as are those who are rendered 
impotent, after having shared in the happiness and delights of matri- 
monial intercourse. Their disgust of life arises from witnessing the 
comforts whicii others enjoy, from which they are ever debarred, and 
which they have no means of fully appreciating. There is also a 
marked difference in the external characteristic of a man and of an 
eunuch. The latter are rendered, by the degrading operation to 
which they have been subjected, more effeminate in personal appear- 
ance than are those who are in the full vigor and enjoyment of 
manhood. The voice resembles that of children, the hair* becomes 
thin and delicate, the limbs are small, the beard and whiskers do not 
grow, or at best are thin and scattered, and the mental faculties are 
prevented attaining either vigor or penetration. Most of these 
changes and differences in the constitution not unfrequently attend 
the operation of castration, when performed during manhood, if it be 
complete, — that is if both testicles have been removed. They do not 
however occur at once, but take place gradually ; erection and even 
emission may be effected on more than one occasion, after both 
testicles have been removed. When emission occurs some months 
after castration has been performed, it is not seminal, but simply 
the secretion of the seminal vesicles and the prostrate gland. 

The ancient Romans would not allow any one to bear wfiness 
against another in a court of justice, unless he were perfect in the 



110 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



organs of generation, — unless the testicles were sound and entire. 
The papal clergy so far carry this rule into effect that no one can be 
admitted a member of their priesthood, against whom a similar de- 
fect can with truth be alleged. 

It occasionally happens that the testicles which before birth are 
lodged within the cavity of the abdomen, immediately before the 
kidneys, do not descend into the scrotum or purse, but remain in the 
belly, generally within what is called the abdominal canal. Some- 
times one only is retained in the abdomen and that generally the left. 
In this situation they are exposed to various causes of disease, and 
although not absolutely deprived of the power of secreting seed, yet 
their action is generally more or less imperfect, in all probability 
from the compression they undergo, and the constant irritation to 
which they are subject, from ' the narrowness of the canal by which 
they are in fact somewhat elongated, and flattened, and smaller than 
usual. 

An apprentice of the late Sir Astley Cooper, in whom the testicles 
had not descended, committed suicide, from the fear that he was impo- 
tent. His body was examined after death, and the seminal vesicles 
were found to be full of semen ; the testicles themselves, which were 
both within the abdomen and close to the internal abdominal ring, 
being nearly, if not quite of a natural size. In another case, that of 
a lad nineteen years of age, only one organ was retained in the cav- 
ity of the abdomen. It was smaller than its fellow, but the ducts, 
etc., were perfectly healthy. 

The non-descent of the testicles from the abdomen into the purse 
does not however necessarily involve the infliction of impotence — 
the greatest physicial curse to which manhood can be subjected. 

The spermatic artery, as has been already remarked, is given off 
by the main arterial trunk; it. is a long undulating, and tortuous 
vessel. The blood which is thus conveyed to the organs, after hav- 
ing been employed by the testicles for the separation and secretion 
of the seed, is re-conveyed in a refuse state by other vessels, called 
the spermatic veins, back to the general circulatory system in the 
body. The double set of vessels, the arteries and veins, were call- 
ed by the older anatomists the vasa preparantia, as being the parts 
principally concerned with the testicles in the preparation of the 
seed. 

The spermatic arteries are remarkable, besides their length and 



MEDICAL GUIDE. Ill 

tortousity, for their smallness, which prevents their containing more 
than a small quantity of blood at a time. They pass obliquely 
downwards and outwards, behind the peritoneum, and are contained 
in a common protecting sheath with the veins, forming with the 
nerves of the testicle what is called the spermatic cord ; they then 
run over the psoas muscles and ureters, and pass out through the 
rings of the abdomen and abdominal canal, over the os pubis or 
share bone, and into the scrotum, which the supermatic artery enters, 
and as already remarked, supplies the testicle. This organ also re- 
ceives blood from the artery which supplies the vas deferens. 

The latter named organ, which is invested in its own sheath, call- 
ed by the name tunica vaginalis, is composed of the body of the tes- 
ticle, and the epidydimis, the latter being situated at the upper part. 
Its substance is of a white, soft, and apparently pulpy nature, but in 
reality it consists of an infinite number of small tubes, called the 
seminiferous tubes, which terminate in the epidydimis. These tubes 
are convoluted on each other, and closely connected together, but 
when unravelled, and injected with quicksilver, will extend to a con- 
siderable length. 

The spermatic veins arise in three sets from the testicle, two of 
which soon unite. They are exceedingly tortuous in their course, 
and freely anastomose with each other, while in the lower part of the 
cord, but these inter-communications cease after they have entered 
the abdominal canal, on leaving which while crossing the psoas mus- 
cle, they unite together, and form one vein, which on the right side 
terminates in the lower vena cava, and on the left in the vein which 
arises from the kidney on that side. Their use has been already 
mentioned. The larger veins are provided with valves. The nerves 
of the testicles are principally derived from those which supply the 
kidneys. They take the same course as the spermatic arteries, and 
constitute with them and the veins the spermatic cord. Some 
branches of the hypogastric plexus join the spermatic nerves in the 
cord, and form with them a kind of network or interlacing with their 
branches, which mingle with and embrace the blood vessels supply- 
ing the testicles. The spermatic nerves are finally distributed to the 
substance of the organ, to the due performance of the function of 
which they are subsidary. 

The testicles are generally two in number, one on each side of the 
scrotum or purse, but cases have been published in which there has 



112 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



been only one testicle, and in others again there have been found 
three, four, and even, although very rarely, five testicles. The older 
writers, by whom some of these cases have been mentioned, con- 
sidered the possessors of so unusual a number of testicles, to be more 
than ordinarily salacious. This latter statement is more than doubt- 
fall, and it has somtimes happened that a small tumor has assumed 
the character and appearance of an additional testicle. The occa- 
sional although rare ocurrence of a third testicle has however been 
placed beyond all doubt. Dr. Macann, a staff surgeon in the British 
army, published an instance of this, which came under his own ob- 
servation. The person in whom this anomalous condition took place 
was a recruit about twenty years of age, and the aditional organ was 
on the right side, nearer the groin than the proper testicle. It had 
its own spermatic cord, which joined the cord of the other organ at 
the upper parts of the purse, and the vas deferens could be distinct- . 
ly felt in each. 

Persons having three testicles are called triorchides ; those who 
possess only one are known in science by the name of monorchides. 
These latter cases are equally rare, and those which are detailed by 
the older writers equally doubtful, as the instances of triorchides, 
already alluded to. Some few instances however have been publish- 
ed by modern authors, and in some of these the facts having been ex- 
amined after death, the non-existence of one of the testicles has been 
clearly ascertained. Instances also have been known in which the 
unhappy sufferers have been eunuchs from birth, having been born 
without either testicle. 

Where these important organs are natural in size, number, and 
general appearance, they are generally nearly two inches in length, 
''one and a half in the transverse direction, and one in thickness. The 
tunica vaginalis or investing membrane of the testicles which has 
been already alluded to, consists of two layers, the inner one directly 
enveloping the testicles. It secretes a kind of semen, which serves 
to lubricate it. Between the two layers of the vaginal tunic is con- 
tained the fluid hydrocele, or dropsy of the purse. In some cases 
the cavity formed between the two layers of this membrane remains 
continuous with the cavity of the abdomen. In such instances there 
is the double danger of the occurence of what is called congenital 
p rupture, and also of the extension of severe inflamation from the 
cavity of the vaginal tunic to the abdomen. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 113 



Between the testicles and the tunica vaginalis, there is another 
tunic orcoat called the tunica albuginea which is smooth, white, and 
inelastic* composed of fibres and structure. It completely covers the 
testicle, >ut not the epididymis. At the upper, back, and outer part 
of the or£an, it forms a projecting body containing the blood vessel, 
and part of the glandular structure of the testicle, as well as the 
seminal canals of the rete. Astley Cooper called it mediastinum testis. 
The unyielding character of its tunics is the cause of the intense pain 
which is experienced when the organ is swelled and inflamed. The 
testicle is also invested and protected by a muscle called the cremaster, 
which is formed partly by some of the fibres of the oblique muscles 
of the abdomen, and partly arises from the lower part of the spine of 
the ilium, and from the pubis. It acts as a third coat or tunic to the 
testicle. It expands all round the tunica vaginalis which it closely 
embraces, forming a hollow muscle, within which the testicle and its 
tunics are contained, and which, when it is in action, contracts and 
draws the organ it encloses upwards to the abdomen, sustaining and 
compressing it, and forcing out along the vas deferens the semen pre- 
viously secreted by the organ. The action of this muscle is principal- 
ly involuntary, but it has been found in some few instances to be un- 
der the control of the will. The cremaster muscle is. small and in- 
distinct prior to puberty ; after that period it is greatly developed in 
persons who are very muscular, and is exceedingly well marked in 
cases of old rupture or hydrocele. 

It has been already observed that the substance of the testicle con- 
sists of an infinite number of small tubes, which are called the tubuli 
seminifiri, or seminiferous tubes. These are very numerous ; their 
number has been calculated by Lauth at 840, and their entire mean 
length at 1750 feet, the mean length of each duct or tube being 
twenty-five inches. They communicate readily with each other, and 
thus constitute one vast network of communication. Their calibre is 
of varying diameter in different individuals, and is also modified by 
the age of the party, and the state of activity or of rest of the organ 
itself. They are much larger in an active adult in the prime of life, 
while the organs are in full vigor, than they are in the child or old 
man. They differ occasionally also in the testicles of the same indi- 
vidual, the calibre of the seminiferous tubes in the one testicle being 
greater than that of the other. In their course in the body of the 
organ, they converge towards the part described as the mediastinum; 



114 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



then two or more tubes unite, and form a conical lobe, the point of 
which opens into the mediastinum testis. Of these lobes :here are 
between four and five hundred in each testicle. 

The epididymis, which, it has been stated is seated at the upper 
and back part of the testicle, is the continuation of the numerous seed- 
bearing tubes ; it descends along the back part of the testicle, gra- 
dually becomes larger in diameter, but less convoluted until it 
begins to ascend, when it obtains the name of vasa deferens. It is 
no longer than the testicle, being about two inches in length, and 
four or five lines in width. It consists principally of seminal canals 
from which arise in the after part of the rete testis, the vasa efferentia, 
or defferent vessels, of which tubes they are generally twehe in num- 
ber, although there be sometimes as many as thirtj. And these ducts, 
after numerous and close convolutions, unite with, or rather termin- 
ate in the canal of the epididymis. Their average united length has 
been estimated by Lautli at nearly eight feet, the seperate length of 
each being rather more than seven inches. 

The parts of the epididymis known as its body and tail, are com- 
posed of the convolutions or twistings of its canal. This latter is very 
irregular in size and length, averaging generally when unfolded and 
drawn out about twenty feet. It varies greatly both in length and 
calibre in different individuals. The walls of this canal, unlike those 
of the vasa efferentia, are very strong, and will bear considerable 
violence. It terminates in the canal called the vas deferens or defer- 
ent vessel, the excretory duct of the organ, and is generally narrower 
in calibre at the part where it unites with the vas deferens, than in 
any other part of its course. 

There is sometimes a blind canal found connected with the epidi- 
dymis or deferent vessel, which has been called by Haller the vascw- 
lum aberrans. It is as large in diameter as the canal of the epididy- 
mis, and is generally from eight to fourteen inches long, although it 
only passes along the cord for two or three inches, when it either ter- 
minates in a dilated extremity, or else gradually diminishes in size, 
and finally disappears. It is much convoluted in its course. It is not 
of unfrequent occurrence, although in perhaps the majority of in- 
stances it is not present. As many as there vascula aberrantia have 
been found. But little is known of the real use to which this blind 
canal is subservient in the economy. By some it has been supposed 
to be a supplementary vas deferens ; others again conceive that its 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 115 



office is ^merely the secretion of a fluid to assist in lubricating the part 
composing the epididymis, — while others again regard it as a mere 
diverticulum, accidental in its formation, such as is occasionally met 
with among the intestines. 

The vus deferens or deferent vessel, the excretory duct of the 
testicle, ibrms a constituent part of the spermatic cord, and is readily 
distinguished from the arteries, veins, nerves, and absorbents, by its 
cartilaginous feel. It is firm and round in shape, and it has been 
supposedthat its parietes or walls were muscular. It is continuous 
with the under part of the epididymis, and ascends along its inner 
side, forming numerous convolutions until it passes beyond the 
testicle, when it joins the spermatic vessels and nerves to form the 
cord. It then enters and passes through the abdominal canal ; after 
which it leaves the cord and plunges into the pelvis, passing back- 
wards in the form of an arch on the outside of the peritoneum, to 
which it adheres ; it passes first by the side of, and then behind and 
below the bladder, inclining gently inwards in its course, towards 
the cervix, of that viscus, until at last, about the base of the prostrate 
gland, it comes in contact, but does not communicate with the vas 
deferens of the opposite side. It terminates in the seminal vesicle, 
immediately above and behind the prostrate, and with it forms the 
ejaculatory canal, which perforates the prostatic part of the urethra. 
As the vas deferens approaches its termination in the seminal vesicle, 
it increases in breadth and capacity, becoming again gradually small- 
er as it reaches the prostrate. 

The testicle in the foetus are situated in the abdomen, posterior to 
its lining membrane the peritoneum, immediately below the kidneys, 
and in front of the psoas muscles. The epididymis is abont one- 
third larger relatively to the body of the testicle than it is in the 
adult. Connected with each of these organs while in the foetal state, 
is a soft solid body of a conical shape, which is called the guberna- 
culum. It is attached to the lower ends of the testicle and epididy- 
mis, and to the origin of the vas deferens. It passes out of the ab- 
domen in the course taken by the testicle, through the inguinal canal 
and the abdominal rings, downwards into the scrotum, to which it is 
attached. It is surrounded with a layer of muscular fibres, and is 
supplied with blood by a branch from the artery of the vas deferens. 
The testicle between the fifth and sixth month of foetal life, is gradu- 
ally drawn by the contraction of the muscular fibres enveloping the 



116 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



gubernaculum and by the action of the cremaster muscle from its 
situation near the kidney, upwards towards the internal abdominal 
ring. Towards the close of the seventh month it is generally found 
that the ring traverses the inguinal canal during the next month, and 
finally towards the close of the period of pregnancy, is generally to 
be discovered in the scrotum. As the organ progresses through the 
abdomen and the canal, it pushes before it a reflection of the peri- 
toneum, which subsequently becomes the tunica vaginalis, which 
has been already described. The gubernaculum, meanwhile, grad- 
ually becomes everted, and its muscular fibres constitute a kind of 
investing covering to the vaginal tunic, the remaining portion of its 
texture contributing to form the loose cellular tissue, which is found 
so abundantly in the scrotum. Its attachments to the bottom of the 
scrotum gradually disappear after the descent of the organ, which 
they were intended to facilitate. This, however, is not always the 
case. In some instances in which the testicle have not descended 
further than the abdominal ring or the canal, some portion of the 
gubernaculum may still be in existence, and may even retain some 
of its enveloping muscular fibres. 

The non-descent of both testicles is of comparatively rare occur- 
rence. When one has descended, it is more frequently the right 
than the left. It sometimes remains permanently fixed in the situa- 
tion which it occupied when the child was born,but it occasionally 
descends prior to puberty, most generally between the second and 
the tenth year. The descent has been known to some after birth. 
Wrisberg mentions several such instances. The cause of this non- 
descent are not at present well known ; they may, however, depend 
on the occurrences of abdominal inflamation prior to birth, or on 
some imperfection in the muscular apparatus by which the testicle 
should be drawn into the cavity of the scrotum. When the bodies 
of persons who have been the subject of this non-descent have been 
examined after death, filaments or bands of greater or less length 
have been discovered binding the organ to some of the parts in the 
abdomen, and it has even been found adhering to one of the intes- 
tines. This singular cause of the non-descent of the testicle can 
only be attributed to previous inflammation. The small size of the 
abdominal rings may also operate as a cause preventive of the de- 
scent of testicles. An operation has been performed under such cir- 
cumstances to relieve the organ, and place it in the scrotum, and it 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 117 



was followed by success. It was, however, attended with great dif- 
ficulty and inconvenience, and the cure was very tedious. 

The vas deferens in cases of undescended testicle is generally of 
exceeding length, so as to present a greater degree of tortousity than 
usual. 

With respect to the state of the organ itself, and its fitness for the 
purposes of generation when its descent has not taken place, some 
observations have already been made, and the case of a pupil of the 
late Sir Astly Cooper adduced, to show that they may and do possess 
the powers, and in full integrity. Mr. Hunter was of opinion that 
the organs under these circumstances would be necessarily very im- 
perfect, and perhaps even utterly unserviceable for the purposes for 
which they are designed by nature, but the only case which came 
under his notice in man, in which both testicles were retained in the 
abdomen proved the contrary of his position, since the individual 
had all the powers and passions of a man. 

Mr. Owen, the celebrated comparative anatomist, in commenting 
on the opinions just cited, observes, u it seems remarkable, that with 
this experience, Mr. Hunter should have formed from inconclusive an- 
alogy, and promulgated an opinion tending to occasion so much un- 
happiness, as that which attributes exceeding imperfection and prob- 
able incapacity of performing their natural functions to testicles 
which in the human subject are retained within the abdomen. That 
there is nothing in such a situation which necessarily tends to impair 
their efficiency is evident from the number of animals in which they 
constantly form part of the abdominal viscera ; and in those in 
which the testicles naturally pass into the scrotum, their continuance 
in the abdomen, according to our author's own observation, is ac- 
companied only with a differance of size or shape ; now we may 
readily suppose that this may influence the quantity, but not necessa- 
rily the quality of the secretion." 

This opinion of Mr. Owen's has been confirmed by the examina- 
tion of undescended testicles in other cases besides that of the late 
Sir Astley Cooper's pupil — other instances are however mentioned, 
in which, apparently from the non-descent of the testicles, but not 
improbably from some other cause, the passions and feelings pecu- 
liar to manhood were not developed : and in at least one instance 
of non-decent, the organ which was the right testicle, when examin- 
ed after death, as it lay in the abdomen, a little above the internal 



118 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



abdominal ring, was found not to be larger than it generally is at the 
age of two years, and to present similar anatomical characters. The 
organ belonged to a lad sixteen years old. The left was four times 
as large. 

In a case which came under the notice of M. Cloquet, the testicle, 
the left in this instance, was detained in the inguinal canal, It was 
flattened, elongated, and in a state of atrophy, in fact so small that 
it could not be felt externally. The epididymis was situated an inch 
below the testicle, with which it communicated by fine white trans- 
parent vessels, running parrallel to each other, and formed by the 
siminiferous tubes, unravelled and drawn out. The vas deferens 
came off from the lower part of the epididymis, and entered the in- 
guinal canal, where it passed by the side of, and internal to the tes- 
ticles. The organ itself was contained in a hernial sac. The patient 
in this case was forty years of age. 

It maybe readily understood, and experience supports the opinion 
that, although the retention of the testicles in the abdomen does not 
generally impair their generative powers, yet if they be detained in 
the inguinal canal itself, where they are subject to continual com- 
pression, or from direct injury from blows, etc., which they are un- 
able to escape, then their utility may be im pared, although even 
then it does not follow that it must necessarily be lost. The conse- 
quences resulting from their compression or from direct 'injury are 
frequently very severe. Permanent disease in the organ may also 
be ultimately induced as their result. 

With respect to this, Mr. Pott, one of the ablest of English Sur- 
geons, remarks, "I do not know any particular inconvenience arising 
from the detention of a testicle within the cavity of the belly, but 
the lodgment of it in the groin not only renders it liable to be hurt 
by accidental pressure, etc., but when it is so hurt, may be the cause 
of its being mistaken for a different disease, and thereby, occasion 
its being very improperly treated, To which considerations this 
may be added, that there is no kind of disease to which the testicle 
is liable in its natural situation, but what may also affect it in any or 
all its unnatural ones." The very circumstance to which Mr. Pott 
refers, actually occurred in a case to which he was called. A young 
sailor who had one of his testicles detained in the inguinal canal, in- 
jured it by a blow, and the subsequent symptoms so resembled those 
of strangulated hernia in that part of the body, that Mr. Pott was 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 119 



called in to operate. He discovered the nature of the accident, and 
the patient was cured, fortunately for him, without an operation, 
Similar cases have occurred to other surgeons. 

It occassionally happens that, independent of their non-descent* 
the testicles do not attain their full size and powers of secreting semen, 
This state has been termed an arrest of development, — a phrase the 
meaning of which is simply that the organs at a certain period of life 
prior to puberty, have ceased to grow. A case has been described 
of a gentleman, who, when in his twenty-sixth year had a penis and 
testicles, which were not larger than those of a boy eight years old, 
and another of a man, thirty years old, in whom those organs pre- 
sented a similar appearance. Such instance are not beyond the influ- 
ence of medicine, unless perhaps when they occur in the persons of 
idiots. 

Wasting or diminution in the size and powers of the organs may 
occur at any age. The testicle is generally of the proper shape, al- 
though diminished in size, but feels soft. haviDg lost its elasticity and 
firmness. It is pale in texture, and its blood vessels appear to be 
less in number, than in the healthy state. The secretion contained 
in the seminiferous tubes is entirely devoid of spermatic granules and 
spermatozoa, the nature and use of which will be mentioned in a short 
time. In some instances the organ undergoes what is called the fatty 
degeneration. The spermatic cord is also generally affected by the 
extension of the disease ; the nerves shrink, the blood vessels are re- 
duced in size and number it is said, and the cremaster muscle dis- 
appears. 

When disease of the organ is the cause of its atrophied condition, 
it becomes altered in shape, being uneven and irregular, and some- 
times elongated, as well as diminished in size and weight. The pro- 
per glandular structure also seems to have nearly if not altogether 
disappeared. 

Among the causes of this atrophy of the testicle may be enumerated 
impeded circulation, pressure, wanting exercise, and loss of nervous 
influence, as well as certain causes which specially affect the organs. 
Atrophy or an occasional result of local inflamation. whether arising 
from a special case, or from the transfer of inflamation to the testicle 
in cases of mumps. Excess in sexual intercourse and onanism are 
also efficient causes of an atrophied condition of these important 



120 THE' MAGIC WAND, AND 



organs. They will be alluded to more in detail hereafter. It is 
generally preceded by a low kind of local inflamation. 

Injuries of the head, especially of the back part, have not unfre- 
queutly been the cause of atrophy of these organs, and it has been 
known to occur without any apparent cause. 

The fact that injuries of a severe nature affecting the back part of 
the head are followed by such a result would tend to support the 
views of the phrenologists that the seat of sexual desire is in the cere- 
bellum, which is there located, and between which and the organs of 
generation they say there is a great sympathy. The brain either in 
its entire, or in its particular* part of it, undoubtedly exercises great 
influence on the desire for sexual intercourse. In fact the influence 
of the mind on the organs of generation, and of the latter on the mind 
is completely reciprocal. 

So much similitude is there in the structure of the brain and of the 
testicle, as well as a most extraordinary sympathy between them 
that experience in the course of a practice extending through a series 
of years, has demonstrated that there are many cases where the human 
mind suffers under a species of derangement, in consequence of dis- 
eases of the organ of generation, especially a tubes dorsalis, and for 
this, solid reason may and will hereafter be given. 

The vas deferens, a duct as important as the testicle is itself, inas- 
much as it is the canal through which the semen is conveyed to the 
seminal vesicles, is occasionally, but rarely, imperfect, or greatly de- 
ficient in some part of its course. It sometimes terminates it a cul-de- 
sac, more or less near the organ from which it arises. In some in- 
stances when this occurs, the testicle itself is imperfect, in others, in 
appearance at least it seems to be healthy, and the seminiferous tubes 
contain semen abounding in spermatozoa. Sometimes the epididymis 
is altogether absent, or partially imperfect. Occasionally the vas 
deferens is of unnatural shortness, and terminates in a seminal vesicle, 
not situated in its ordinary place, and totally unconnected with the 
urethra. All these constitute serious and important impairments of 
the generative functions, because although the testicle itself may be 
perfect in its structure, and fully capable of performing its duties, 
still is it rendered useless if its deferent duct be imperfect. Fortun- 
ately however such deficiencies are of rare occurrence, and when they 
are met with, are generally found to affect one organ only, leaving 
the other fit and capable for efficient action. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 121 



The somen, or fluid secreted by the testicles. Is always when eva- 
cuated, mixed with the secretions of other structures, such as those of 
the seminal vesicles, the prostrate gland, and the mucous glands of 
the urethra. To examine semen in its pure state.it should be obtain- 
ed from the deferent vessels of an animal recently dead, in whom 
death has ensued from accident or intention, and not from disease. 

On examination, the seminal fluid is found to possess many of the 
properties of other animal mucilages. It is of a blueish-white color, 
and nearly of the consistence of cream, but more unequal. That 
which is first discharged by living animals has nearly the properties 
of what is found in the vasa defeientia and other vessels of the testi- 
cles ; it is whiter and more opaque, while that which follows more 
resembles the common mucus of the nose, but is less viscid. It has, 
when first voided, a peculiar heavy smell, which has been compared 
to that of the farina of the Spanish chestnut. This odor appears to be 
derived from the secretions of the seminal vesicles, prostrate and 
mucous glands of the urethra, as pure semen obtained from the epidi- 
dymis or deferent vessels has not any such smell. Its taste is said by 
one of our most eminent physiologists to be at first insipid, with how- 
ever a certain degree of pungency ; after a little time it stimulates 
and excites a degree of warmth in the mouth. Vanqueline describes 
it as haviug a sharp and slightly astringent taste. Its specific gravity 
is greater than that of any other fluid in the body ; it sinks into water, 
is coagulable by alcohol, is soluble in nitric and sulphuric acids, is 
softened by vegetable acids, evaporates by heat, loses its viscidity 
on the addition of lime water, which however is increased by potash 
and soda, and it is thickened by ammonia. When exposed to air, it 
soon liquifies, and then becomes specifically lighter than before, 
but it always remains heavier than water. When it does liquify, it 
will combine with water at any temperature, but it will not do so at 
the time of ejection, nor will water dissolve it at any temperature, 
from zero to the boiling point, if it have not been previously liquified. 

According to the detailed experiments of Vanqueline, which were 
published in the Annales de Chemie for 1791, and which have been 
quoted by Fourcroy, Richerand, and others, human semen appears 
to be composed of ninety parts of water, six of common animal mucil 
age. three of phosphate of lime, and one of soda. It exhibits a very 
marked alcaline character, changing the syrup of violets green, owing 
to the soda which it contains. The animal mucilage is not pure al- 



122 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



bumen : but Richerand observes it should rather be considered as a 
gelatinous mucus, on which its indissolubility in water, its odor and 
spontaneous liquifaction seems to depend. 

The application of the powers of the microscope to semen has shewn 
that very minute bodies swim in it ; these move with rapidity, and 
irom their various motions, from their avoiding obstacles, their retro- 
gression, and change of velocity, they have been regarded as animal- 
culae. They are formed like a tadpole, with a round head or body 
and a narrow tail. They are found in very great numbers in healthy 
seminal fluid, and closely crowded together. Ludovic Haume is said 
to have been the discoverer of these animalculae, and to have shewn 
them to Lewenhoeck in 1677. Lewenhoeck has claimed the discovery 
as his own. 

These animalculae are not found, it is said, in the fluid contained 
in the seminal organs before puberty ; but are always present after- 
wards, and do not disappear while man retains the power of procrea- 
tion, having been met with in persons of a very advanced age ; they 
are stated to be either imperfect or altogether wanting in that of 
mules. The more general character with respect to these tadpoles 
in the semen of the mules is that they are greatly deficient in num- 
ber, and very imperfect in their formation. Some physiologists 
have asserted that they are also absent from the semen of persons 
who are suffering from or have been much debilitated by continual 
disease. The theories which have been formed respecting their na- 
ture and uses have been very various. 

These animalculae or tadpoles are now called spermatozoa, as it is 
yet a question among physologists whether they are independent 
parasitic animals, or metely animated particles, of the organism in 
which they exist. A spermatozoa consists of a flattened oval and 
perfectly transparent body ; terminating in a filiform tapering tail, 
which together measure from one fiftieth to one fortieth of a line in 
length. Wagner has shown that they are developed within cells, and 
and originate from the spermatic granules, being formed by the dis- 
persion of the nuclei of these cells. 

These animalculae are peculiar to the spermatic fluid and constitute 
the chief characteristic of this secretion. They live for many hours 
after they have been ejected from the urethra ; the application of 
blood does not injure them, but that of urine renders their motions 
feeble and hastens their death. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 123 



The spermatic fluid also contains a number of minute, round, col- 
orless, granular corpuscles, which vary in quantity, but are usually 
much less numerous than the spermatozoa. Both these elements of 
the sperm are suspended in a clear transparent fluid termed the 
liquor seminis. or seminal liquor. The quantity of seminal fluid em- 
itted during the act of sexual congress varies from one to two or 
three drachms. 

There is a singular fact connected with the history of these ani- 
malcule, that they have been discovered in very large numbers, and 
in a very lively state on more than one occasion in the fluid removed 
by operation from hydrocele, their presence has been attributed to a 
wound in the testicle by the instrument used in operating, and in the 
encysted form, it is supposed that it is owing to a rupture of one of 
the seminal tubuli. 

It has been already remarked that the tadpoles or spermatozoa are 
imperfect or deficient in the semen of mules, or hybrid animals 
Hence depends in all probabilty the impotence or sterility of those 
creatures. They are generally utterly incapable of generation. 
There are however instances, both among the mammalia and birds. 
of individuals belonging to species universally held to be distinct, 
uniting and producing young, which again were prolific. That the 
mule can engender with the mare, and that the she-mule can 
conceive, was known to Aristole. The circumstances is said 
to occur more frequently in warm countries ; but it has taken place 
in Scotland. Buffon states that the offspring of the he-goat and ewe 
possesses perfect powers of reproduction. "We might expect these 
animals, with the addition also of the chamois, to copulate together 
easily, because they are nearly the same size, very similar in inter- 
nal structure, and accustomed to.artificial domestic life, and to the 
society of each other from birth upwards. There is a similar facility 
in some birds, where such unions are often fruitful, and produce pro- 
lific offspring. The cock and hen canary birds produce with the hen 
and cock siskin and goldfinch ; the hen canary produces with the 
cock chaffinch, bullfinch, yellow hammer and sparrow. The pro- 
geny in all these cases' is prolific, and breeds not only with both the 
species from which they spring, but likewise with each other. The 
common cock and the hen patridge as well as the cock and guinea 
hen. and the pheasant and the hen can produce together. 

Notwithstanding all these and perhaps other examples which 



124 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



might be adduced, the general rule is that hybrids are incompetent 
to perform the act of generation, so as to produce offspring, and it is 
a wise provision of nature that such should be the case, to prevent 
the world being inhabited by monstrous creatures, as would be the 
case, were it the general rule that fecundation followed the act of 
copulation, when practised by the offspring of parents of different 
species. 

The vesiculce seminales or seminal vesicles are two sacs or oblique 
bags, behind and below the bladder, between it and the rectum, and 
closely connected with it cellular tissue. That part which is applied 
against the bladder is concave, the opposite surface convex. They 
occupy an oblique position, their lower extremities being separated 
only by the deferent vessels, while their upper ends»are at a consid- 
erable distance from each other. The latter are the larger, and their 
greatest breath is generally three or four times less than their length ; 
and their thickness is about one-third of their breadth. They are 
about three fingers' breadth in length. There size varies in different 
men, but this variation does not seem to depend on bodily height, 
for in some men of short stature, they are in every respect larger 
ihan in others who are tall. Their external appearance is unequal 
in consequence of their consisting of several convolutions, which by 
long maceration and careful dissection may be unfolded, when they 
will appear as long vessels with openings on the sides, which origin- 
ally were so applied as to correspond with each other, and to permit 
the contents of the vessicles to pass through them from one part of 
the tube to the other. When distended they apparently consist of 
large irregular cells ; this is more distinctly seen when they have 
been inflated, and dried, and then laid open. 

The vesiculae seminales have two coats, Jhe outer one of which 
presents a muscular appearance in man, and is exceedingly well 
marked in some quadrupeds ; the inner coat is much more vascular, 
and is everywhere on its inner surface formed into small cells of a 
honeycombed appearance, from which there are short projecting 
villi ; the.=e cells are irregular both in size and shape, and are not 
dissimilar to those on the inner bladder and biliary ducts ; the inner 
coat has thus every appearance of being, and no doubt is, a secret- 
ing membrane. The s/minal vesicles are well supplied with arteries, 
veins and absorbents. Near the prostate the cells cease to appear ; 
the vesicle contracts, and forms a kind of dnct, which unites with the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 125 



vas deferens at a very acute angle, the place of union being marked 
by a projecting septum or valve, by which the contents of the defer- 
ent vessel are directed into the seminal vesicle. 

The ejaculatory duct, thus formed by the union of the vas deferent 
and seminal vesicle, is from half an inch to three quarters long ; it 
continues to become narrower as it passes behind the third lobe of 
the prostate, perforates that body, and, running some way along the 
under surface of the urethra, enters that canal obliquely by a small 
opening on the side of the caput gallinaginis. 

The junction of the two vessels, which form this common duct is 
such, notwithstanding the acuteness of the angle, that air gently 
thrown into the vas deferens by a blow-pipe, will inflate the seminal 
vesicle before it enters the urethra, but if thrown into with violence, 
it will immediately infl ite both the urethra, and the seminal vesicle. 

When the fluid contained in the seminal vesicle is examined, it ap- 
pears of a brownish color, and much thinner than the fluid found in 
the deferent vessels ; it varies both in consistence and color in dif- 
ferent parts of the vesicle. In smell it does not resemble the semen ; 
nor does it, like the semen, become more fluid by being exposed to 
the air. In bodies which have been dead some time the color is of a 
darker brown color ; this might be supposed to arise from the con- 
tents in the vesicle having undergone a change in their sensible pro- 
perties from putrefaction ; but when the contents of the vesicle and 
deferent vessel of the same side have been compared, they have been 
found to be different in appearance, and in other properties. Hun- 
ter examined the contents of the seminal vesicles in some cases af- 
ter death, and found that although of a lighter color than usual, 
there was not any smell like that which is so peculiar to the semen. 

He therefore concluded that the seminal vesicles did not serve as 
receptacles for semen, but simply secreted a kind of mucus of their 
own ; and although their peculiar use had not been ascertained, it 
was, he thought, reasonable on the whole to conclude, that they were 
together with other, parts, subservient to the purposes of generation. 
As additional reasons for entertaining the opinion that the seminal 
vesicle did not act as a seed-reservoir, Hunter ascertained that their 
peculiar contents were always found in the vesicles of those persons, 
who, for some reason or other, had undergone castration of one of the 
testicles. 

The seminal vesicles in animals present many peculiarities, and in 



126 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



some they are altogether absent. In the horse, they have not any 
communication with the vas deferens, or at all events the common 
passage is so short as not to admit of regurgitation from the vas 
deferens. They are not of the same size in the gelding and the stal- 
lion, being 1 irger in the latter, but the contents are similar and nearly 
equal in quantity in each. They are very large in the boar, and 
divided into cells of a considerable extent, having one common duct. 
They have no communication with the deferent vessels, and their 
contents are dissimilar. Neither have they any communication with 
the vas deferens in ihe rat, nor in the beaver — in the latter they open 
on the caput gallinaginis, and are convoluted. In the guinea pig they 
constitute long cylindrical tubes, and have not any communication 
with the deferent vessels. 

These facts however do not afford a demonstrative and conclusive 
proof that in the human subject the seed may not pass into the vesi- 
cles from the deferent vessels. There is no anatomical or mechanical 
structure calculated to prevent such occurences ; for, notwithstanding 
the acuteness of the angle between the two vessels at their junction, 
from the length of the common tube, the wideness of that part of it 
formed by the vesicle where the two vessels meet, and the very small 
aperture by which it opens into the urethra, the fluid (which from the 
length and contortion of the seminal tubes, -must pass very slowly 
from the testicles) will insinuate itself much more readily through the 
large communication with the vesicle, than through the very small 
ones with the urethra, unless it be prevented from so doing by the 
vesicle attempting to throw its contents into the urethra at the same 
time. During coition this attempt is made, and both fluids pass at 
once into the urethra, where the fluid secreted by the vesicles being 
added to that coming from the testicles by the deferent vessels, be- 
tween them a proper quantity is produced to distend sufficiently the 
sinus of the urethra, that the muscles of ejection may act on its con- 
tents with more power. 

The same effect may be produced, whether the deferent vessels and 
seminal vesicles communicate or not, provided that they both open 
near each other into the urethra, and both convey their contents to it 
at the same time. 

In the dead body it has often been found that air or any fluid when 
not thrown into the vas deferens with much force, will fill the vesicle 
before it enters the canal of the urethra, and examining the contents 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 12T 



of the vesicles, although the fluid contained near the fundus differs in 
color, consistence, and smell from the semen, yet that found near the 
neck is often very similar to it ; or to the fluid contained in the en- 
larged extremities of the deferent vessels. 

From the frequent excitement of the passions and their gratification 
being denied in the civilized state of human society, fluid must often 
be secreted in the testicles at times when it cannot be naturally 
evacuated ; and although the accumulation of it in this organ 
sometimes produces tension and pain, the fullness of the vessels often 
subsides without these unpleasant symptoms having taken place. 
Thus, when the vis a tergo no longer drives the semen slowly on, the 
muscular properties of the vas deferens may assist in conveying that 
fluid on towards the vesicles, which may receive it until the time of 
ejectment arrives. They may thus under particular circumstances, 
more likely to occur in the human species that in brutes, be employ- 
ed as reservoirs, although their ordinary use may be to secrete a fluid 
which mixing with the semen during coition, may render the act more 
perfect, and more likely therefore to produce fecundation. 

An additional reason may be adduced in support of the theory 
that the seminal vesicles act as reservoirs for the seed in man, in the 
well-known fact that animals possessing a penis, but destitute of 
seminal vesicles, remain for a long time in sexual contact, because 
the fluid necessary for fecundation, from the long course it has to 
take dnring copulation, only flows from the urethra drop by drop. 

A distinct communication between the seminal vesicles and the 
deferent vessels takes place only in man, and in tbose animals which 
most resemble him in form as in the the whole tribe of the simise. 
The vesicles are altogether absent in the lion, panther, cat and dog. 

Lawrence, in his lectures on the physiology of man observes ; " be- 
cause the vesiculas seminales in some animals, do not communicate 
with the vasa deferentia, and therefore cannot receive the fluid se- 
creted in the testicles, it has been inferred that they do not serve 
the purpose of reservoirs for the seminal-secretion in man ; where 
however, they have so free a communication with the vasa deferentia 
*fhat any fluids pass into and even dfstend the former, before they go 
on into the urefrhra. The organic arragement is different in the two 
instances, and this difference leads us to expect a modification in the 
functions, instead of authorizing us to infer that the same office is 
executed in exactly the same manner in both cases. If we met with 



128 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

animals in whom the cystic duct opened into the small intestines 
separately from the hepatic, shall we therefore infer that the human 
gall bladder is not a receptacle for the hepatic bile?" 

The prostate, of which a brief mention has already been made, in 
shape and size somewhat resembles a chestnut. It is situated below 
and behind the bladder, and above and in front of the rectum. The 
base inclines upwards and backwards, the apex pointing downwards 
and forwards. A notch in the middle of the base divides the pros- 
tate into lateral tubes, immediately above which are the lowest parts 
ot the deferent vessels and seminal vesicles, the ducts of which be- 
gin to perforate the gland in the middle of the notch, and then pass 
into the under part of the urethra, where it is surrounded by the 
substance of the gland. The neck of the bladder is surrounded by 
the prostate, as is also the commencement of the urethra, which 
thence obtains the name of the prostatic portion. 

The gland is connected with the symphysis pubis and its descend 
ing rami by a strong fascia, and by planes of musclar fibres, which 
serve to support it, and by pressing on it during the contraction, aid 
in passing the secreted fluid from it into the urethra. Its substance 
is firm and .compact, and when cut into gives the sensation of divid- 
ing cartilage. It is whiter in its substance than that of any other 
gland. 

Behind the commencement of the urethra, between the passage of 
the ducts from the deferent vessels and the seminal vesicles, there is 
a portion of the prostate which is connected with both the lateral 
lobes ; this portion is occasionally called the third lobe of the pros- 
tate. When the gland becomes enlarged from disease, this part 
presses upwards towards the cavity of the bladder, immediately be- 
hind the commencement of the urethra, and occasionally bends over 
that opening, acting as a sort of valve to prevent the expulsion of 
the urine. 

The prostate is supplied with blood by branches from the internal 
pudic : they are comparatively few in number. Its veins and absor- 
bents are numerous, and empty themselves into those which connect- 
ed with the bladder. The nerves of the prostate are branches from 
the intercostal plexus, which unite with others from the fourth and 
fifth sacral nerves. 

The secreting structure approaches to that of the conglomerate 
glands, and consist of minute cells, from which small ducts arise 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 129 



and unite with each other, so as to form several vessels which ter- 
minate by separate orifices by the side of the caput gallinaginis. 
The fluid which is secreted is of a white or rather of a cream color ; 
in the dead body it is rather dark in color ; it is viscid and has a 
slightly salt taste. When the passage of the urethra through the 
gland is slit open from before, and the substance of the gland is 
squeezed, this fluid may be seen to issue from several pores in the 
under surface of the canal. Its use seems to be to lubricate the sur- 
face of the urethra, along which the semen is to pass. It is thrown 
out in considerable quantity, when the parts are in a state fit for im- 
mediate copulation : much of it then unites with the seminal fluid, 
and is discharged with that fluid when emission takes place. 

The fluid of the prostate, like that of the seminal vesicles, is not 
absolutely necessary for the purposes of generation, in all animals 
which possess testicles ; and although the gland is found in man, and 
the tribes of the simise, the lion, dog, etc., it is not present in the bull 
the buck, and ram, and goat, and most probably all ruminating ani- 
mals. In these later the coats of the seminal vesicles are thicker and 
more glandular than in those animals who have prostates. Hunter 
is therefore of opinion that the seminal vesicles answer nearly the 
same purpose as the prostate. Both the gland and the vesicles are 
wanting in birds and amphibious animals, and in fish which have tes- 
ticles, as the ray kind. The prostate is said to be double in the ele- 
phant, camel, horse and some other animals. 

The semen is evacuated into that part of the urethra which is en- 
compassed with the excretory ducts of the prostate gland, which dis- 
charges its secretion by twenty-four small orifices into the urethra, at 
the time when the semen is ejected ; six of these excretory orifices 
being placed before the three apertures through which the seed is 
emitted, six of them behind these apertures, and six on each side. 
Hence the seed is never evacuated, but when the liquors of the pros- 
tate gland goes before and follows after. It is obvious, therefore, 
how powerfully it must conduce to health, to have secretion of this 
gland in a sound and pure state, as it is so intimately connected with 
the finest functions in the animal economy. The seed and secretion 
of the prostate gland are intimately mixed together in the urethra, 
and the latter is occasionally absorbed into the seminal vesicles 
themselves; for these vesicles and prostate gland are encompassed 
by the same muscular membrane. The humor, formed by the pros- 

9 



130 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



tate gland, when in a sound and healthy state, is mild or balsamic, 
somewhat oily or white 5 but when it becomes diseased, it has the 
appearance of putrid matter from an ulcer, although no ulcer on 
those parts may exist. It is most plentifully secreted in good health, 
and its action continues after the testicles have been taken away, but 
it is not then in the least prolific ; hence it seems intended by nature, 
to be a vehicle to dilute, nourish, and convey the thick and ash-color- 
ed concocted semen. 

We have sometimes seen, in the most healthy men who have long 
abstained from venery, a copious running of the humor of this gland 
from its being in a relaxed state, during which the semen will be 
emitted by the slightest effort, and from ideas of the mind, especial- 
ly during sleep ; which has often proved the cause of an atrophy, or 
consumption, when effectual aid has not been procured. The sooner 
the patient gets this relaxed state of the gland restored the better. 
We have sometimes been consulted where surgeons had been treat- 
ing the patient as if this humor from the prostate gland was venere- 
al. Errors of this kind have done great mischief. This humor flows 
from the prostate gland only, and it distils slowly without any ejacu- 
lation, contrary to to the semen, from which it differs. Hence we ob- 
serve, that this humor, is not wanting in eunuchs, when they have an 
erection ; and the same liquor sometimes distils from geldings when 
they strive to leap. 

This secretion, which appears like semen in castrated animals, is 
absolutely unprolific, and destitute of every virtue for procreation. 
But although it does not contain any prolific virtue, yet good semen 
is not formed when those parts are corroded ; so that great caution 
should be observed, by all those entering the marriage state, to be 
well assured that this humor of the prostate gland is in a sound and 
and healthy state ; for various evils may arise in consequence, and 
especially sterility. Many a fine estate has been deprived of an heir, 
as well as titles made extinct, from that cause, the true condition of 
things, perhaps, having never been discovered. 

Healthy men continually separate semen from the blood, which 
being retained and inspissated, like the white of an egg or starch, 
would be most immoveable, if it were not for the more thin juice of 
the prostate gland, when in a sound state, which mixes with it and 
serves to lubricate the urethra almost like an oil. Besides this, as 
the animalcule must stay a long time, perhaps, before it arrives in the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 131 

uterus or womb, it seems necessary for it to be provided with a suit- 
able aliment; for, unless nature nourished the animalcule, when 
formed, it would certaintly perish or become extinct : and this nutri- 
tious liquor is that of the prostate gland, which in some animals is 
larger than are the testicles themselves. 

Cowper's glands, which are situate between the bulb of the urethra 
and the membranous portion, are about the size of two small garden 
peas. They open into the canal by two small ducts, and appear to 
secrete a mucus which serves to lubricate the urethra. They vary 
much in size and consistence, and occasionally are not to be found. 

The urethra, a membranous canal extending from the neck of the 
bladder to the end of the penis or yard, is divided into the prostatic, 
membranous, bulbous, and pendulous portions. Its coats are the 
same as those of the bladder ; of which it is apparently a prolonga- 
tion. The first or prostatic portion, commencing immediately from 
the neck of the bladder, is surrounded by the prostate, which it 
enters on the upper and anterior surface, a little more forwards than 
the notch at the base and proceeds in a slightly incurvated direction 
onwards towards the pubes. On the underpart of its internal surface, 
there is found a prominent projecting body, called the caput gallina- 
ginis or verumontanum, on the sides of which the common ducts of 
the deferent vessels and seminal vesicles open into the canal, as also 
the ducts of the prostate. 

The portion of the urethra between the prostatic and bulbous por- 
tions, is called the membranous, and the reason that has been alleg- 
ed for this is. because its circumference is less than that of any other 
part of the canal. Its length is generally about an Inch, when the 
penis is in a state of erection ; when otherwise, it is somewhat less. 
It is cylindrical in form for about half its length. The urethra soon 
after takes the name bulbous, when it meets with the pendulous por- 
tions of the bulb, the substance of which however it does not enter 
until it reaches the arch of th^ pubes. At this part it is attached to 
the symphysis by muscular fibres. These muscles a* e influential in 
the expulsion of the semen. The urethra at this part enlarges some- 
what at its under part, forming a kind of sinus, in which it has been 
supposed the semen may accumulate, until a sufficient quantity h s 
been collected. The canal afterwards bends forwards and is sur- 
rounded by the spongy bodies, through its course along the under 
surface of the penis. 



132 * THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



The whole of the internal surface of the urethra is abundantly sup- 
plied with mucus to defend it from the acrimony of the urine. It is 
secreted partly by vessels which form small projections on the inner 
surface of the canal, and partly by glandular structures situated at the 
bottom and sides of the very numerous lacunae or depressions dis- 
persed over every part of the internal membrane, the openings of 
which are directed towards the termination of the urethra, so that the 
mucus is pressed out of their cavities by the urine as it flows from the 
bladder. These lacunas vary much in their size, the largest being 
found in greatest numbers on the upper surface. 

The urethra is very vascular, and possesses a certain degree of elas- 
ticity. Its membranes are very thin, and almost transparent, and 
without fibres, so that in itself it does not possess the power of mus- 
cular contraction and relaxation. It is however provided with mus- 
cles, the action of which is to assist the explusion of the urine, and 
also of the seed during copulation. The membranous portion is sur- 
rounded by a congeries of veins, which communicate freely with each 
other, and terminate in the veins of the bladder. They are also con- 
nected with the corpus spongiosum. Its length is generally about 
twelve inches, but it varies much in different individuals. 

The penis consists of the cavernous bodies, (corporo cavernosa) 
and of the spongy body (corpus spongiosum) the latter terminating 
in the gland or glans. These are enveloped in a loose folding of 
common integuments. 

The cavernous bodies commence by two bodies called the crura, 
one on each side of the ischia ; they unite below and in front of the 
arch of the pubis, and constitute the upper part of the penis, in the 
upper groove, there being a large vein, two arteries, nerves, and ab- 
sorbents, and in the lower, the spongy body surrounding the urethra. 

The corpus spongiosum begins at the bulb in the form of an oblong 
swelling of a pyriform shape. It is incurvated forward, gradually 
becoming narrower, until it reaches the groove on the under part 
of the cavernous bodies ; it then becomes cylindrical in shape, until 
it assumes a conical form when terminating in the glans penis. Ac- 
cording to some anatomists it consists simply of a congeries of veins 
freely communicating wilh each other, while in the opinion of others 
it consists of cells formed and divided by a trellis work from each 
other, similar in structure to the cavernous bodies, but on a less scale 
and more regular. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 133 

The convex conical surface of the glands covered by a fine mem- 
brane, in color resembling the red part of the lips. At its base or 
corona there are rows of projecting papilla? which secrete a sebaceous 
matter having a peculiar smell. The gland, which possesses exquisite 
sensibility, is protected by the loose covering called the prepuce or 
foreskin, which is tied to the penis immediately below the orifice of 
the urethra, by the band called the fraenum : this limits the motion 
of the prepuce and tends to keep it in its proper place. 

The spongy substance of the urethra, which forms the glans penis, 
is covered externally with an exceeding thin membrane or cuticle, 
under which are placed the very sensible nervous papillae, which are 
the chief seat and cause of pleasure and pain in this part. We may 
now understand why many, in the venereal act, have not the glans 
distended, though the whole penis is, at the same time, turgid ; be- 
cause the glans belong entirely to the cavernous body of the urethra; 
and if that body be paralytic or weakened from any preceding or 
existing cause, which we have known often to proceed from irregular 
practices ; in all those people where the spongy body of the urethra 
is not distended, impotence will arise, which if not perfectly under- 
stood, cannot be cured by any physician. 

Whereas, in healthy men, when these organs are in due tone, during 
the orgasmus veneris, or the moment before the semen is ejected, the 
glans and whole cavernous body oi the urethra are extremely turgid, 
so as to be ready to burst; but soon after, a kind of convulsive mo- 
tion follows, and the semen is discharged with a slight loss of strength 
for a little time throughout the whole body, which soon recovers its 
usual vigor. 

During coition the corpus spongiosum and glans penis are rendered 
turgid by the blood filling their vascular structure and the whole 
canal of the urethra is lenghtened but made more narrow and straight. 
The see 1 is gradually deposited in the sinus of the bulb ; the glans 
being placed at the other extremity of the corpus spongiosum, and 
endowed with a peculiar sensibility, when a sufficient quantity of 
semen is collected, excites the muscles covering the bulb to action, 
and the contraction of the fibres taking place, the semen is propelled 
rapidly along the canal ; the blood in the bulb is at the same time 
pressed forwards but requiring a greater impulse, it forms an undula- 
tory wave behind the semen, narrowing the urethra, and urging on 
the semen, with increased force. 



134 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



The corpora cavernosa are covered by a white elastic ligament of 
some thickness, and not very vascular, and are separated by a perfo- 
rated septum, which allows the blood contained in the cellular struc- 
ture to pass readily through its openings from one to another. They 
consist of numerous cells of very irregular size and shape, bounded 
by a net-like membranous substance which allows of as ready a com- 
munication between the cavities as does the septum. The cells of the 
corpora cavernosa have been thought to be more or less muscular, 
and it is said that in the horse they are evidently so. These bodies 
are supplied with blood by branches from the pudic, which sub- 
divides into small vessels, and are distributed everywhere through- 
out their structure, 

When the passion of desire does not exist, the blood is not poured 
out into the cells, but returns by the veins as usual, and the penis re- 
mains flaccid ; but when a person is under the influence of particular 
impressions which excite the nerves of these parts, the minute arterial 
branches which befoie had their orifices closed, have their action sud- 
denly increased, and pour from their open mouths the blood into 
these cells, so as to distend them, of course overcoming the elastic 
power that under ordinary circumstances keeps them collapsed. In 
this way the penis is rendered fit to convey the semen to the female 
organs of generation. The erection of the penis is greatly aided by 
the action of certain muscles called the erectors of the penis. 

The great veins of the penis is formed by branches from the gland, 
sides of the corpus spongiosum, and common integuments, runs along 
the back of the penis in the upper groove to its root, where it divides 
into two vessels which pass under the arch of the pubes, receive 
other veins from the prostate and bladder, and empty themselves 
into the internal iliac. The absorbents of the penis are very numer- 
ous, and terminate in the glands of the groin. The nerves are deriv- 
ed from the lumbar and sacral nerves, and from the inferior mesen- 
teric plexus. 

This chapter will be most appropriately terminated by some ob- 
servations on puberty, and the changes it effects in the system. 

The approach of puberty induces marked changes in the general 
system of man, as well as in the local organs which are subservient 
to generation. The growth of hair on the chin, upper lip, and sides 
of the face, and on the pubes, the peculiar alteration of the voice, the 
greater firmness of muscle, the extraordinary change in the passions 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 135 



and feelings, together with the great increase in the size of- the penis 
and testicles, shew the advent of a peculiar change in the system, by 
which it is adapted for the propagation of the species. The desire for 
connexion with the female, implanted in man by nature for a wise 
purpose becomes developed after the period of puberty, and the 
organs by which the act is performed, gradually assume their full 
vigor and dimensions. 

The age at which the peculiar changes in the organism called 
puberty takes place varies in different climates and different constitu- 
tions. It is also influenced by the mode of life and circumstances of 
the individual. The period of puberty occurs earlier in warm than 
in cold climates ; in temperate countries, it takes place from the four- 
teenth to the seventeenth year ; the passions of youths living in large 
Cities and towns are however excited earlier than are those of the 
agricultural population, on account of the greater sources of tempta- 
tion to which they are exposed. 

In those animals which are not endowed with reason to guide their 
actions, the desire for copulation occurs periodically, and in some the 
testicles increase in size until the season of procreation is over, and 
then decrease, and continue small, until the commencement of the 
next season. Evidence of this may be readily found in the testicles 
of the cock-sparrow, which progressively increase in size from January 
till the end of April, when the love season of these birds usually ter- 
minates. The increase and diminution of these organs however do 
not take place in birds only, but has been discovered in many other 
animals, more especially in the land-mouse and mole. 

There are several reasons which might be alleged for the existence 
of a periodical desire for copulation "among animals — were it other- 
wise, as the passion for sexual intercourse is very powerful, and 
animals do not possess the light of reason so as to be enabled to restrain 
or subdue their passions, it is probable that from its excessive indul- 
gence, all their other habits might be lost, and even the necessity of 
providing for their present and future wants might be forgotten ; be- 
sides which in those animals which are fruitful, and which do not 
long carry their young, their number would be in a short time xe- 
ceedingly great, far beyond the means of support that nature has pro- 
vided for them. Another reason might be alleged, that were domestic 
animals always in heat, they would be of comparatively little service 



136 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



to mau, while the flesh of wild ones would be too coarse and rank, 
and altogether unfit for the purposes of nourishment. 

The period of the year during which the desire for copulation 
principally exists in animals is that of spring — few experience any 
sexual desire during the winter, except the frog, wolf, and fox ; the 
severity of the cold seems to destroy, at least for the time, all such 
feelings. On the other hand, in climates where the summer is very 
hot, the genital organs of animals then become so much relaxed in 
tone, as to render them unfit for the proper performance of the neces- 
sary act. 

The case is however somewhat different in domestic animals ; the 
passion is less periodical, the secretion of semen not being arrested 
by cold, to which they are much less exposed, and the circumstances 
in which they are placed being altogether different. 

In man the desire for procreation arises at puberty, and may and 
can be indulged in, if health and the requisite powers continue at all 
times and seasons of the year. Being endowed by nature with' the 
high, the exalted function of reason, he is left a free agent, having the 
full power to use or abuse his capabilities, with the consciousness 
that if he do abuse the functions with which he is gifted, he must 
abide the penalty. Man is not affected by changes of temperature 
as are the wild animals either as respects excessive heat or intense 
cold, and, consequently the human testicles are generally the same in 
dimensions after puberty throughout the year. 

The desire for sexual intercourse in man begins after puberty, and 
is consentaneous with the secretion of semen or seed by the testicles. 
It is preposterous to say it depends on the occurrence of that secre- 
tion, as both the passion for copulation and the secretion of semen 
are but indications of the great change which take place in the sys- 
tem at that epoch. It does not however exisist before the testicles 
being to enlarge in size, and perform their proper function, and it is 
said but untruly, to be lost when the operation of castration has 
been performed. Those eunuchs only are not influenced by the de- 
sire for procreation who were deprived of the organ of generation 
prior to puberty ; those who were castrated subsequent to that event 
still entertain the desire for intercourse, although in a less degree 
than men who have all their organs entire. Desire is more languid 
in advanced age than during the period of the adult life ; the seed is 
then more sparingly secreted, and indeed all the functions of the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 137 



system are performed in a less energetic manner, although, as will 
soon be shown, old men are not in every instance deprived of the 
power of generation. Desire is also very moderate in persons who 
have small organs, and occasionally it is altogether absent. Sper- 
matozoa have been discovered in the testicles of men upwards of 
seventy years of age, and on one occasion in the organs of a tailor, 
who died at the age of eighty-seven. There are even circumstances on 
record of persons retaining the procreative faculty to the age of one 
hundred years ; but in these cases, as in the well-known instance of 
old Parr, the general bodily powers were also preserved in an extra- 
ordinary degree. 

In speaking of this function, and of its exercise, Dr. Carpenter in 
his Principles of Human Physiology observes — ' To the use of the . 
sexual organs for the continuance of his race, man is prompted by 
a powerful instinctive desire, which he shares with the lower 
animals. This instinct is excited by sensations; and these may 
either oiiginate in the sexual organs themselves, or may be excited 
through the organs of special sensation. Thus in man it is most 
powerfully aroused by impressions conveyed through the sight or 
touch ; in many other animals the auditory and olfactory organs 
communicate impressions which have an equal power ; and it is not 
improbable that in certain morbidly excited states of feeling, the 
same may be the case in ourselves. That local impressions have 
also very powerful effect in exciting sexual desire must have been 
within the experience of almost every one ; the fact is most remark- 
able however in cases of satyriasis. This disease is generally found 
to be connected with some obvious cause of irritation of the genera- 
tive system, such as pruritus, active congestion, etc. The instinct 
(for sexual intercourse) when once aroused, (even though very ob- 
scurely felt,) acts upon the mental faculties and moral feelings, and 
thus becomes the source, though almost unconsciously so to the indi- 
vidual, of the tendency to form that kind of attachment towards one 
of the opposite sex, which is known as love. This tendency cannot 
be regarded as a simple passion or emotion, since it is the result of 
the combined operations of the reason, the imagination, and the 
moral feelings ; and it is in the engraftment (so to speak) of the phy- 
sical attachment upon mere corporeal instinct that a difference ex- 
ists between the sexual relations of man and those of the lower ani- 
mals.' 



138 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



Diseases of the Organs of Generation. 

Our readers having attentively considered the anatomy of the pro- 
pagative organs, we will now proceed to speak of their diseases, the 
cause and treatment. The diseases known by the general term of 
syphilis or venereal disease, and arising from impure coition, appear 
generally in three forms, gonorrhoea, chancres, and bubo. These some- 
times exist alone, and sometimes together. The first named disease 
is one of the first and most frequent complaints of the generative 
apparatus. We would direct your attention to the description of this 
disease, and many symptoms liable to be mistaken for it. " 

Gonorrhoea, Morbid Secretions, and Instability of the Urethra. — There 
are many secretions common to the urethra, such as those afforded by 
the various glands for the purpose of lubrication, &c. ; and the lining 
membrane of the passage yields a moisture for its own protection, like 
the membrane of many other organs, such as the eyes, nose, mouth, 
and so forth, and these secretions may become unhealthy or vitiated, 
and give rise to symptoms that lead on to confirmed disease ; and, 
what is still more remarkable, may assume many of the characters 
and appearance of gonorrhoea, but they rarely induce such constitu- 
tional disturbances as clap. The symptoms, consequences, and dura- 
tion of clap, form its distinguishing features from any other discharge 
of the urethra ; it is very important that such distinction should be 
understood, for the treatment of the two affections differs most mate- 
rially ; the one, an affection of weakness, and the other of an inflama* 
tory and pestilential nature. The symptoms of clap are as follows : 
there is usually first felt an uneasy sensation at the mouth of the pas- 
sage or urethra. The patient is frequently called upon to arrange his 
person ; that uneasy sensation sometimes amounts to an itching (oc- 
cassionally of a pleasurable kind) the feeling extends a little way up 
the penis ; there is oftentimes an erection and a desire for intercourse, 
which, if indulged in, the sooner developes the disease. The itching 
alone will not convey the disease from one person to another ; but if 
intercourse be held, the action of the inflamed vessels is accelerated, 
and a purulent secretion which is infectious is urged forth and emit- 
ted with the semen : therefore the very symptom of the tingling or 
itching, for it rarely exists in healthy urethrce, should be noticed, and 
intercourse be avoided until it shall have ceased. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 139 



About this time is perceived a slight heat on passing water, or at 
the conclusion of the act ; and shortly after, or may be before, a yel- 
lowish discharge is observed oozing from the mouth of the glans or 
nut of the penis ; the symptoms then rapidly advance, unless timely 
and judicious means be adopted to palliate them or effect a cure ; the 
scalding becomes intense, and the pain and smarting continue some 
time after each operation of passing water ; the discharge becomes 
profuse and clots on the linen, and continues to ooze out with little 
intermission : the orifice of the urethra looks red and inflamed, and 
the glans itself swells and is occasionally extremely tender : the fore- 
skin or prepuce sometimes, but fortunately not always, becomes swol- 
len, and tightened over the nut of the penis, from which it can not be 
drawn back, constituting that form of the disease known by the name 
of phymosis. 

When that is the case, other annoyances ensue ; the purulent matter 
collects around the glans ; excoriations, ulcerations, and sometimes 
warts, and the consequence ; the whole symptoms become thereby 
much aggravated. It also happens that the prepuce from inflama- 
tion assumes a dropsical appearance, that is to say, the edges or 
point swell, and appear like a bladder filled with water ; thus, the 
size which the penis then arrives at is enormous, and to the patient 
very alarming ; it usually, however, subsides in a day or two, if rest 
and proper measures be employed. The glans with some people, is 
always bare, and the foreskin drawn up around it. Such a state may 
be induced also by disease : in either case, it may become so inflamed 
as to resist any effort to draw it over the glans, and from the swelling 
and consequent pressure on the penis, a kind of ligature is created ; 
and instances have been known where the most disastrous results have 
ensued. The circulation of the blood in the glans is checked ; the 
nut puts on a black appearance, and if the ligature be not removed 
or divided, mortification takes place, and the tip or more of the penis 
sloughs off or dies away. This state of the prepuce is called paraphy- 
mosis : it sometimes happens to young lads, who, having an indicated 
opening of the foreskin, endeavor to uncover the glans : they suc- 
ceed, but are unable to pull the prepuce back again. They either 
take no further notice of it, or else become frightened, but conceal 
the accident they have committed : in a few hours, the parts become 
painful, swell, and all the phenomena above detailed ensue. 

The next proceeding which will probably be induced, will be an 



140 " THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



extension of the inflamation to the bladder : the symptoms are a fre- 
quent desire to make water, and occasionally ulceration of the mem- 
brane lining the bladder follows, when a quantity of muco-purulent 
matter is discharged, which, mingling with the urine gives it the ap- 
pearance of whey. Now and then the bladder takes on another form 
of disordered function : the patient will be seized with retention of the 
urine, that is, a total inability to discharge his water, except by the 
aid of the catheter. A new and most perplexing feature about this 
stage of the proceeding is perceived : it is what is called chordee. The 
existing irritation excites the penis to frequent erections, which are 
of the most painful nature. The penis is bent downward ; the occas- 
sion is, the temporary agglutinization of some of the cells of the sorpora 
cavernosa through inflamation, and the distension of the open ones by 
the arterial blood, thereby putting the adherent cells on the stretch, 
and so constituting the curve, and giving rise to the pain. This symp- 
tom is frequently a very long and troublesome attendant upon a 
severe clap ; it is more annoying, however, than absolutely painful, 
as it prevents sleep, it being present chiefly at night-time when warm 
in bed. 

Occasionally the glands in the groin enlarge and are somewhat 
painful ; they sometimes, but very rarely swell and break ; they 
more frequently sympathise with the adjacent irritation, and may be 
viewed as indications of the amount of general disturbance present ; 
as the patient gets better the glands go down, leaving a slight or 
scarcely perceptible hardness as it were to mark where they had 
been. The most painful of all the attendant phenomena of clap is 
swelled testicle, or, as in medical phraseology it is called Hernia hu- 
moralis. 

The first indication of the approach of the last-named affection is 
a slight sense of fulness in the testicle, generally the left first, al- 
though occasionally in the right, sometimes one after the other, but 
rarely both together : a smart twinge is now and then felt in the 
back upon makiDg any particular movement: the testicle becomes 
sensibly larger and more painful, the chord swells also and feels like 
a hardened cord in the groin : the patient is soon incapacitated from 
walking, or walks very lame ; if the inflamation be not subdued by 
some means, and if the patient be of a " burning temperament," that 
is. of a very inflamatory constitution, fever is soon set up, and the 
patient is laid upon a " sick bed," There is no form of the complaint 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 141 



so dangerous to neglect as swelled testicles ; they have sometimes 
been known to burst or become permanently callous and hardened, 
and ever after wholly unfit for procreative purposes ; in other in- 
stances, they have entirely disappeared by absorption : in fact, all 
diseases of the testicles interfere with the generative power. At the 
onset of inflamation there may be a brief increase of sexual appetite, 
but when the structure of the testicle becomes altered or impaired, 
that appetite is subdued or wholly lost ; there is such a wonderful 
sympathy betwixt all parts of the generative economy of man, that 
if one portion only be injured, the ordinary end of sexual union is 
fustrated. 

The gonorrhceal poison is capable of producing a similar discharge 
from other parts to which it may be applied besides the urethra. It 
has been conveyed by means of the finger or towel to the eyes an 1 
nose ; and a prurient secretion (attended with much pain and incun 
venience, indeed with great danger, when the eye becomes so attack- 
ed), has oozed plentifully therefrom. Gonorrhoea is an infectious dis- 
order, and consequently is communicable by whatever means the 
virus be applied. It certainly is possible, and (if we are to believe 
the assertions of patients, who are often met with, declaring they 
have not held female intercourse, and yet have contracted the dis- 
ease), it certainly is not improbable that it may be taken up from 
using a water-closet that has been visited by an infectious person 
just before. It may also be contracted by using a foul bougie. 

If the gonorrhceal discharge be suffered to remain on particular 
parts of the person, such as around the glans of the penis, or on the 
outside of the foreskin, excoriations, chaps, and warts, spring up 
speedily and plentifully, and protrude through before the prepuce, or 
sometimes become adherent to it ; it therefore only shows how 
necessary cleanliness is in these disagreeable complaints, to escape 
the vexations alluded to. A species of insect also is apt to appear 
about the hairy part of the genital organs, and indeed extend all 
over the body, particularly in those parts where hair grows, such as 
under the arm-pits, chest, head, etc., if cleanliness be not observed. 
They are called crabs. The itching they give rise to is very harass- 
ing, and the patient, unable to withstand scratching, rubs the parts 
into sores, which in healing, exude little crusts that break off and 
bleed. When the gonorrhoea has been severe and there has been 
much constitutional disturbance, there frequently hang about what 



142 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



are called flying rheumatic pains ; and sometimes, if the patient's 
health be much broken up, confirmed rheumatism seizes hold of him, 
and wearies him out of several months of his existence. I have seen 
many a fine constitution, by a tedious ill-treated or neglected gonor- 
rhoea, much injured, that, had the sufferer consulted a medical man 
of even ordinary, talent, in the first instance, instead of foolishly 
leaving the disease to wear itself out with the help of this recom- 
mended by one, and that by the other, he might have shaken off the 
hydra, and have averted the hundred vexations that follow. 

I come now to add to the list of calamitous consequences, stric- 
tures, which in my opinion, prevails to an enormous extent ; how- 
ever, its consideration will be reserved, as well as the affections of 
the bladder, and prostate gland, for their proper places. I will 
simply repeat my impression that a stricture, or narrowing of the 
urethra, or some organic changes, invariably ensues when the gonor- 
rhoea has been mismanaged, or its cure unfortunately protracted. 

It is the opinion of many medical men, and it can, no doubt, be 
borne out by many patients, that a gonorrhoea if unattended by any 
untoward circumstance, will wear itself out, and that the duration 
of such a proceeding is from one to two months ; there is no disput- 
ing but such has been, and is now and then the case, but such rarely 
stand even so fair a chance of recovery as to be left entirely alone : 
even if medicine be not taken, rest, abstemiousness, and such like 
means, are seldom followed up ; either the patient lives gloriously 
free, or else goes to the opposite extreme. 

The cases of gleet which seek medical relief are more numerous, 
as most professional men must be aware, than those of gonorrhoea, 
seldom escapes the terminus of a gleet. 

The distinguishing feature of gleet from gonorrhoea is that it is not 
considered infectious : it consists of a discharge ever varying in 
color and consistence ; it is the most troublesome of all urethric 
derangements, and doubtlessly helps more to disorganize the delicate 
mucous membrane lining the urinary passage than even the severest 
clap. Its action is constant though slow ; and subject as we are to 
alternations of health, of which even the urinary apparatus partakes, 
it is not to be wondered at that a part of our system which is so fre- 
quently being employed, should became disturbed at last, and that 
stricture and all its horrors should form a finale ; but as gleet and 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 143 



stricture form in themselves such important diseases, I shall devote 
a chapter to the consideration of each separately. 

This is divided into two methods — the one denominated the Anti- 
phlogistic, the other Specific. The Antiphlogistic is a term applied 
to medicines, plans of diet, and other circumstances, that tend to op- 
pose inflamation, by a diminution of the activity of the vital powers 
whereby the inflamation is subdued, and nature rights herself again 
of her own accord. The Specific implies a reliance upon a particu- 
lar remedy, which is supposed at once to set about curing the dis- 
ease. 

Now, both these plans are successful in curing gonorrhoea ; but 
the majority of medical men adopt the former method, inasmuch as 
although it but quietly conducts the case to a successful termination, 
still it does so, whereas the specific, in unskilful hands, is often pro- 
ductive of many annoyances, much delay, and not always a cure. 

Our plan however is as follows : in the first place I take into con- 
sideration the appearance of the patient ; if he be stroug, robust, 
sanguine or full of habit, and youthful — if it be his first attack, and 
if the symptoms be ushered in with any degree of severity, I invari- 
ably and rigidly pursue the antiphlogistic course of treatment ; if 
the case be in a person of phlegmatic temperament, of mature age, 
and the disease be but a repetition of the past, and there be no evi- 
dence of physical excitement, I fearlessly adopt the specific. Where 
in the third place, I encounter a patient with no very prominent pe- 
culiarity, nor with symptoms demanding extraordinarily active mea- 
sures, experience has taught me the propriety of cautiously combin- 
ing the two methods — a mild aperient had best always precede a 
tonic or a stimulant, in cases where there is a doubt of inflamation 
lurking in the system ; and, recollecting the tendency our complicat- 
ed organization has when assailed by distemper, to become irritable, 
it is always as important to know when to withhold a remedy as when 
to prescribe one. 

However, to particularize the treatment for each symptom; to 
commence, I will request. the reader to remember that on the first ap- 
pearance of gonorrhoea, attended with an unusual inflammatory as- 
pect, the efforts of the patient should be directed toward allaying the 
local symptoms, by diminishing the nervous irritability of the ure- 
thric passage. 

With this view, no plan surpasses that of bathing the penis hi 



144 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



warm water, or immersing the intire body in a warm bath. The for- 
mer should be repeated several times in the day ; the latter daily, or 
certainly on alternate days, so long as the severity lasts. 

By these means, the parts will be preserved clean, and will derive 
benefit from the soothing influence of warmth ; and, in many cases, 
this will be the means of averting chordee or swelled testicles. 

Where, however, from peculiar circumstances, warm water and 
warm baths are not to be had, the penis should be bathed in cold 
water, or encircled with pledgets of rags or lint, moistened with cold 
goulard or rose-water. Warm, however, is to be preferred, although 
cold water seldom fails of affording relief. 

To lessen the acrimony of the urine, which keeps up the irritabili- 
ty, and somewhat to lower the system, all strong drinks, such as ale, 
beer, wine and spirits, should be avoided, and milk, tea, barley- 
water, toast and water, linseed tea, gum arabic in solution, and other 
such mucilaginous diluting liquors taken instead. The diet should 
be lowered : in fact, a spare regimen should be adopted, not wholly 
abstaining from animal food, but partaking of it only once in the day, 
and carefully excluding all salted meats, rich dishes, soups, gravies, 
etc. The usual employment should be suspended, and rest should be 
taken as much as possible in a recumbent posture. 

Of course the preceding remarks apply only to cases of severity ; 
I mean such cases as first attacks ordinarily prove ; and which re- 
marks, if attended to, will greatly mitigate the violence of the dis- 
ease. 

To assist the foregoing treatment, the aperient medicine, which 
should be repeated, at least, on alternate days, until the inflammation 
is ameliorated, should be followed by some saline or demulcent 
medicine to allay the general disturbance. I annex several of the 
formulas relied upon as suitable by our old school practitioners, but 
I cannot conscientiously recommend them myself. My practice em- 
braces the herbal treatment exclusively, with which I undertake to 
cure any species of the foregoing complaints: But I give the re- 
cipes, that my readers may form their own opinion as to their merits. 
Form 1. 

The following mixture lessens the acrimony in making water, sub- 
dues the irritability, and tends to diminish the discharge : — 

Carbonate of potass 1 drachm 

Nitrate of ditto 1 drachm 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 145 

Mucilage of acacia 5} oz. 

Hydrocyanic acid 10 drops 

Syrup of Tolu. 2 drachms 

Mix. Take a tablespoonful in a wine-glassful of water twice daily. 
Form 2. 
Take of— 

Linseed tea , \ pint 

Spirits o/ Sweet Nitre 2 drachms 

Battley 's Sedative 60 drops. 

Mix. Take three table-spoonfuls, twice or thrice daily. 
Form 3. 

Where it is inconvenient for a patient to carry a bottle about his 
person, the following electuary, combining the essential ingredients 
of the former two, may be substituted : — 
Take of— 

Lenitive electuary 2 oz. 

Conserve of roses 2 oz. 

Strong mucilage of acacia 2 oz. 

Nitrate of potass 2 drachms. 

Mix. Dose — Two tea-spoonfuls twice or thrice a day. 

As temperaments differ and no two cases present precisely the 
same symptoms, let those who are afflicted write to me, detailing the 
full particulars of their case, and on receipt of their letter with $15 
I will at once send a course of medicines to their address, containing 
advice and medicines without further charge until a cure is effected. 
The first course is sufficient to cure all ordinary cares. Address Dr. 
A. G. Levy & Co., New York City. 

Swelled testicles or hernia humoralis, more especially that proceeding 
from gonorrhceal irritation, is ushered in and discovered in the fol- 
lowing manner : The patient, on some sudden movement of the body, 
experiences a puin, darting from one of the testis (both being rarely 
affected at the same time) to the loins — the left testicle is the one 
generally attacked. On examination, he finds that the testicle is 
rather swollen and full, amd very painful on being handled ; the 
swelling quickly increases and becomes hard, which hardness extends 
to the spermatic chord, presenting the feel of a rope, passing from 
the scrotum to the groin. 

It is remarkable that when swelled testicle occurs, the discharge 
10 



146 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

from the urethra, which, from previously being very profuse, and the 
scalding on making water, which was very severe, both suddenly 
diminish, or cease entirely, until the inflamation of the testis declines; 
hence, it has been supposed by some, that the disease is translated 
from the urethra to the testicle. 

It is more probably however, derived from the sympathy between 
the two ; the irritation of the one affecting the other, and the prepon- 
derance of inflamation in the testicle acting on the principle of counter- 
irritation to the urethra, and, for a time, thereby lessening the disease 
in it : for it is observed that, as soon as one improves, the disease 
returns in the other. The treatment of hernia humoralis must be 
strictly antiphologistic. In no form of gonorrhceal disease is bleeding 
more absolutely necessary. 

The timely and prompt loss of twelve or sixteen ounces of blood 
from the arm will often cut short the complaint, and render other 
remedies almost unnecessary ; while the temporising delay, under the 
vain hope of the inflamation subsiding, will allow the disease to make 
rapid progress, and impose a necessity of several weeks' rest and 
absence from business, before a cure can be effected. 

Immediately, then, on the occurrence of swelled testicle, I would 
recommend the patient to be bled — to take some aperient medicine, 
and, if the inflamation continues, to apply from twelve to eighteen 
leeches, and afterward suffer the wounds to bleed for twenty minutes 
in a warm bath ; to retire to bed or to the sofa, and to maintain a 
horizontal posture. If he be strong, young, and robust, an emetic 
may be given previous to the aperient, which has been known to re- 
move the swelling almost instantaneously. 

Iodine also possesses a similar specific property in reducing swell- 
ed testicle, and may be taken during the inflamatory stage after 
bleeding and aperients, as may likewise the chlorate or hydriodate of 
potass. 

With regard to local applications, the repeated employment of 
leeches, fomentations, and poultices, with the frequent use of the 
warm bath, and, above all, keeping the testicle constanly supported 
by means of a bag, truss, or suspensory bandage, will subdue the 
disease in a very short time, without impairing the functions of the 
important organ concerned. 

A hardness, however, of the epididymis commonly remains and con- 
tinues during life, but rarely gives rise to any inconvenience, although 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



147 



this may often be remedied by compressing the testicle with strips of 
adhesive plaster. 

Almost every case of inflamed testicle will terminate favorably by 
strictly pursuing the plan proposed ; but when, from any untoward 
circumstance, the inflamation proceeds to suppuration, the case must 
be treated like one of common abscess, in which event professional 
aid should be sought for without delay. My terms for advice and 
treatment vary from $10 to $15. The latter sum only in very ob- 
stinate cases. 

Gleet. — Gleet is a certainty, as its name implies, a discharge of thin 
ichor from a sore. Patients usually understand, and medical men 
usually allow, a gleet to be a discharge from the urethra, which has 
existed some time, of a whitish color, unattended with pain, and that 
is not infectious, by which is meant is incapable of producing gonorr- 
hoea. There are several kinds of morbid secretions, the successful 
treatment of which depends upon a knowledge of their differences. 
They may be divided into two principal orders— those secreted from 
the mucous surface of the urethra or bladder, and those which pro- 
ceed from the various glands leading into one or the other. Gleet is 
a term popularly applied to both, but more strictly relates to that 
which proceeds from the membrane lining the urinary canal. There 
is great analogy in inflamatory affections between tlfe mucous mem- 
brane of the digestive and pulmonary, as well as urinary passages. 
In inflamatory sore throat, the secretions assume various appearances : 
there is a discharge of viscid mucus, of purulent matter, or of a thin 
watery nature ; these secretions are dependant upon the amount and 
duration of the inflamation present. Exactly in like manner may be 
explained those issuing from the urethra. They are consequently 
alike modified by treatment, by diet, by rest, and aggravated by a 
departure from constant care. It is the nature of all membranes, 
lining canals that have external outlets, to attempt the reparative 
process by pouring forth discharges, while those which line the 
structures that have not, effect their cure by union with the opposite 
surface. It is an admirable provision, else important passages might 
become closed, and so put a stop to vital processes ; and in the other 
case, accumulations ensue that could not escape without occasioning 
serious mischief. When, however, disease has existed a long time, 
the operation of the two kinds of membranes is reversed. The serous, 
through inflamation, take on the character of abscess, dropsy, or other 



148 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



secretions, and the mucus ulcerate or form adhesions, as evidenced 
in stricture, or ulceration of the throat or urethra. Gleet may be a 
spontaneous disease, that is to say, may arise from other causes than 
infection. It may exist independently of gonorrhoea, and be the result 
of cold, of intemperance, and of general or of local excess. Its long 
continuance and neglect, however, renders it infectious, and it also 
gives rise to ulceration, excrescences, and stricture : and when, from 
other causes, ulceration, or excrescences, or stricture, are set up, 
gleet is in return generally one of their consequences. Gleet, despite 
these various occasions, is, after all, most frequently a remnant of 
gonorrhoea ; and it is very difficult to define the time or point where 
the one ends and the other commences. Pathologists draw this dis- 
tinction between the two : — they say that gonorrheal discharge con- 
sists of globules, mixed with a serous fluid, while gleet is merely a 
mucous secretion. I confess it difficult for a non-professional person 
to decide which is which, the resemblance, in fact, being so great — a 
gonorrhceal discharge being one day thick and yellow, a few days 
afterward thin and whitish, and at one time in quantity scanty, and 
the next profuse. Gleet assumes nearly the same changes. The best 
test for distinguishing them is, by regarding the accompanying symp- 
toms. Where there is pain on passing water, bladder-irritability, 
tenderness in th"e perinoeum or neighboring parts, and the discharge 
plentiful and offensive, staining the linen with a •'foul spot," it may, 
without much fear, be decided to be clap ; but where the discharge 
is next to colorless, like gumwater, for instance, and where there is 
no other local uneasiness than a feeling of relaxation, and where it 
has existed for a long period, and was, or was not, preceeded by a 
gonorrhoea, it may fairly be called a gleet. Now where does the dis- 
charge of gleet come from ? Let us recapitulate its causes ; first from 
clap, which is a specific inflamatory affection. It may therefore be a 
chronic inflamatory state of the lining membrane of the urethra, of 
greater or less extent ; in which case we would call it chronic gonorr- 
hoea, and which would be owing to a relaxed state of the secretive 
vessels. We know that when a disease exists for a long while, and is 
one not positively destructive to life, a habit of action is acquired 
that renders its continuation in that state as natural as its healthy 
condition. This is the state of the secretive vessels in gleet, arising 
from gonorrhoea ; and hence the discharge is poured forth, instead of 
the secretion natural to the urethral passage in its healthy order. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. " ~" ~ 149 



Secondly, such may have been the severity of a clap, that ulceration 
of some portion of the urethra may have taken plaee. The disease 
may have got well except in that identical spot which, owing to the 
constant irritation occasioned by the urine passing over it, strugg es 
with the reparative intention and effort of nature, and exists even for 
years. Thirdly, when stricture is brewing, which will be explained 
in an appropriate chapter, the alteration going on gives forth a dis- 
charge, and. as I have stated in another part of this work I here re- 
peat, that a long and obstinate gleet, as the slightest examination 
would testify, rarely fails to indicate the presence of a stricture. 
Lastly, gleet may be produced by loss of tone in some or the whole 
portion of the secretive vessels, induced by one or many of the acci- 
dents of life, or the various kinds of physical intemperance when they 
not only weep forth various kinds of fluids, at irregular intervals, 
which impair the muscular and nervous energy of the generative 
organ, but render persons laboring under this description of weakness 
very susceptible of infection, if they hold sexual contact with those 
but slightly diseased. Hence persons laboring under this form of 
debility incur what others escape. An individual so circumstanced 
would receive a taint from a female having leucorrhoea. Very many 
inconveniences have arisen from this infirmity, giving birth occasion- 
ally to unjust suspicions, and creating alarms of the most distressing 
nature. 

Thus, then, we may have gleet from gonorrhoea, gleet from ulcera- 
tion, gleet from stricture, gleet from debility and discharges, popularly 
understood to be gleet, but in reality glandular secretions, which will 
be considered shortly and separately. Glee c is a tiresome and trouble- 
some disorder. So difficult, occasionally, as its management, that 
oftentimes the more regularly a patient lives, and the more strictly 
he conforms to medical regimen, the more deceptive is his disorder. 
He will apparently be fast approaching to, as he conceives, a recovery, 
when, without "rhyme or reason," the complaint recurs, and hints 
that his past forbearance has been thrown away. It would be dispirit- 
ing, indeed, were every case of gleet to realize this description ; but 
it is well known that many do, either from neglect or mismanagement. 
Now it must be evident that the treatment of gleet depends upon what 
may happen to be the occasion of it. Where the membrane of the 
urethra is entire, internal remedies may, and do avail. Copaiba will 
achieve wonders ; the use also of a mild injection, perseveringly em- 



150 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



ployed (as a solution of iodide of iron, or citrate of iron, ten grains «;> 
the ounce of water), will give tone and stringency to the weakened 
vessels, and so correct the quantity, at least, of the secretion. 1c 
very obstinate cases, stronger injections, as of the nitrate of silver, 
twenty grains to the ounce of water, are serviceable ; and we arc 
not without many useful internal medical combinations, which, pro- 
perly administered, conquer this troublesome complaint. In ulcera- 
tion and stricture, these two causes must be removed, else all efforts 
are unavailing. In general and local debility, the attention must be 
devoted to the constitution. Common sense and common reading 
must give to persons, possessing both, every necessary information 
The community are beginning to appreciate the advantages of tem- 
perance, air, and exercise, too highly, to need instructions how much 
of the one or either of the other two are essential to the preservation 
or recovery of health. 

Morbid Irritability of the Urethra. — Of the varied symptomatic 
sensations, few are more provoking and fretting than some continue I 
troublesome itching or pain that frequently attends the passing of 
water. There may be no discharge of any kind, but there is either a 
constant tingling, partially pleasurable sensation, drawing the attep 
tion perpetually to the urethra, or there is felt some particular heat 
or pain during the act of micturition. These feelings do not always 
indicate a venereal affection ; they appear to depend upon local ir- 
ritation, perhaps induced by a morbid condition of the urine. The 
treatment consists in temperate diet, moderatively laxative medi- 
cines, and now and then local applications. Some cases yield to se- 
datives topically applied, and alkalies given internally, while others 
need local stimulants and specific tonics. At all events, whenever 
there is an unhealthy feeling in those paits, it points out some alter- 
ed action is going on, which, if not arrested, is likely to end in stric- 
ture or gleet, and therefore attention had better be bestowed upon it 
as soon as possible. For this purpose let the patient at once com- 
municate with me, with full details of his particular symptoms. A 
full course of medicines and advice, as to proper treatment and 
dietary restrictions will be at once lorwarded upon receipt of $12. 
My medicines are securely packed, and are secure from observation 
Sent by Express to all parts of the country. 

On Stricture of the Urethra. — Of all diseases of the genitourin- 
ary system, stricture must be allowed to be the most formidable. It 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 151 



is not difficult to cure ; but it involves, when neglected, more serious 
disturbances — disturbances which frequently compromise only with 
loss of life. Stricture Is a disease unfortunately of extensive preva- 
lence ; and in nine cases out of ten is the sequence of a gonorrhoea ; 
and, what is still more comforting, few persons who become the 
prey to the latter infliction escape scot-free from the former ; not be- 
cause a clap must necessarily be succeeded by a stricture, but sim- 
ply because it is, and all owing to the carelessness and inattention 
manifested by most young men in the observances so necessary for 
the perfect cure of the primary disease. One very prevalent notion 
and which explains a principal cause of the extension of the ven- 
ereal disea^je, is entertained, that the way to give the finishing coup to 
an expiring clap, is to repeat the act that gives rise to it : the dis- 
ease becomes temporarily aggravated, and the impatient invalid 
probably flies, from an unwillingness to confess his new error, from 
his own tried medical friend to some professional stranger. From a 
desire to earn fame as well as profit, the newly consulted precribes 
some more powerful means ; the discharge is arrested for a while, 
but returns after the next sexual intercourse ; a strong injection sub- 
dues the recurrent symptom, which only awaits a fresh excitement 
for its reappearance. Thus a gleet is established. The patient find- 
ing little or no inconvenience from the slight oozing, which, as he 
observes, is sometimes better and occasionally worse, according to 
his mode of living, determines to let nature achieve her own cure, 
and for months he arags with him a distemper that, despite all his 
philosophy, he can not reflect on without an humiliating diminution 
of self-approval. So insidiously, however, does the complain . worm 
its progress, that the patient, considering his present state the worst 
that can befall him, resolves to endure it, since it appears his own 
constitutional powers are incapable of throwing it off. 

In the midst of this contentment, the invalid finds that the process 
of urinating engages more time than formerly, the urine appears to 
flow in a smaller stream, and is accompanied by a sensation as 
though there were some pressure " behind it." The act of making 
water is not pei formed so cleanly as it used to be ; the stream differs 
in its flow, seldom coming out full and free, but generally split into 
three or four fountain-like spirts. 

At other times it twists into a spiral form, and then suddenly splits 



152 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



into two or more streams, while at the same moment the urine drops 
over the person or clothes, unless great care be observed. 

In advanced cases, the urethra becoming so narrow the bladder 
has not power to expel the urine forward, and it then falls upon the 
shoes or trowsers, or between them. 

Persons afflicted with stricture, and urinating in the streets, may 
almost be detected from the singular attitude they are obliged to as- 
sume to prevent the urine from inconveniencing them, and also from 
the time occupied in discharging it. Some few minutes after making 
water, when dressed and proceeding on his way, the patient finds his 
shirt become moist by some drops of urine that continue to ooze from 
the penis ; and it is only as these annoyancss accumulate, he begins 
to think he is laboring under some other disease than the gleet. The 
next symptom he will experience will be a positive but temporary 
difficulty in passing his water — perhaps a total inability to do so ; it 
will, however, subside in a few minutes. This will lead him to re- 
flect, and he will even appease his fears by inclining to think it may 
be the consequecce of his last night's excess : he resolves to be more 
careful for the future, and he gets better ; his contemplated visit to 
his usual professional adviser, if he have one, is postponed, and a few 
more weeks go by without a return of the last symptom. The next 
attack, which is very difficult to avert, and which is sure to accom- 
pany the succeeding debauch, or to follow a cold or fatigue, does 
not so speedily subside ; the patient finds that he can not complete 
the act of making water without several interruptions, and each at- 
tended with a painful desire resembling that induced by too long a 
retention of that fluid. In that state he eagerly seeks medical assist- 
ance ; the treatment generally adopted consisting of some sedative, 
immersion in a hot bath, or the passage of a bougie. Relief being 
thus easily obtained, professional advice is thus thrown up, and the 
symptoms are again soon forgotten. Before proceeding further with 
the more severe forms and consequences of stricture which may now 
be fairly said to have commenced in earnest, a brief anatomical de- 
scription of the urethra may enable the reader to understand how 
the constriction or narrowing of that canal takes place. 

1 have elsewhere stated the urethra to be a membraneous canal, 
running from the orifice of the penis to the bladder, and situated in 
the lower groove formed by the corpus spongiosum. 

The dulerence of opinion entertained by some of our first anato- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 153 



mists, on the structure of the urethra, is deserving of notice ; for only 
in proportion to the correctness of our knowledge of it, can we ar- 
rive at a just definition of its diseases. 

One party asserts it to be an elastic canal — whether membraneous 
or muscular they do not say — endowed with similar properties of 
elasticity to India rubber, or to a common spring. That it is elastic, 
is beyond doubt ; but the mere assertion is no explanation of its 
mode of action. 

Others, from miscroscopical observations, declare it to consist of 
two coats — a fine internal membrane, which, when the urethra is col- 
lapsed, lies in longitudinal folds — and an external muscular one, 
composed of very short fasciculi of longitudinal fibres, interwoven 
together, and connected by their orgins and insertions with each 
other, and united by an elastic substance of the consistance of mu- 
cus. This is the more satisfactory of the two. 

They account for the occurrence of stricture in this way. They 
say that " a permanent stricture is that contraction of the canal 
which takes place in consequence of coagulable lymph being exuded 
between thefasciculi ot muscular fibres and the internal membrane, 
in different quantities, according to circumstances." 

A spasmodic stricture they define to be " a contraction of a small 
portion of longitudinal muscular fibres, while the rest are relaxed ; 
and as this may take place either all round, or upon any side, it ex- 
plains what is met with in practice — the marked impression of a 
stricture sometimes a circular depression upon the bougie, at others 
only on one side." 

With respect to the change consequent upon permanent stricture, 
dissection enables us, in some degree, to arrive at the truth. Ex- 
crescences and tubercles have been found growing from the wall of 
the urethra ; but in the majority of instances, the only preceptible 
change is a thickening of the canal here and there, of indefinite 
length ; but whether it be occasioned by the exudation of coagula- 
ble lymph, or whether it be the adhesion of ulcerated surfaces, which 
I contend are more or less present in gleet, is not so easy to deter- 
mine ; at all events, it is undoubtedly the result of inflamation. 

With regard to the action of spasm, all we know of it is theoreti- 
cal ; but experience every day furnishes instances of its occurrence. 

Spasmodic stricture is generally seated at the neck of the bladder 
and may occur to persons in good health, from exposure to wet or 



154 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



cold ; from some digestive derangement ; from long retention of the 
urine, particularly while walking, owing to the absence of public 
urinals ; or to violent horse exercise ; but more frequently does it 
happen to those young men who, when suffering from gleet or gon- 
orrhoea, imperfectly or only partially cured, are tempted to commit 
an excess in wine, sprits, or other strong drinks. Surrounded by 
jovial society, glassful after glassful is swallowed, each one to be the 
last. The patient, with his bladder full to repletion, scarcely able to 
retain his water, yet probably " going" every moment, represses his 
desire until the party breaks up, when, on encountering the cold air, 
he finds himself unable to void even a drop, or if so, but with ex- 
treme difficulty. The greater the effort, and the more determined the 
straining, the greater is the impossibility, and relief should be afford- 
ed, the most alarming consequences may ensue. 

The rationale is this : the patient, opposing the action of the mus- 
cles of the bladder, by contracting those of the urethra, they (the 
latter), from irritation, become spasmodically contracted. 

The urine,. by the powerful action of the muscles of the bladder, 
is forced against the contracted portion of the urethra ; and by its 
irritation increases the mischief. Where neglected, or unless the 
spasms yield extravasation will take place, mortification ensue, and 
death follow. 

The urethra is situated at the under part of the penis, and is em- 
braced by a substance called the corpus spongiosum ; it (the urethra) 
consists of several different layers or coats — the inner, the one con- 
tinuous with that lining the bladder, which possesses the power of 
secreting a mucous fluid, and the other made up of muscular fibres, 
which gives to the urethra the power of contracting and dilating, 
that regulates the flowing or jetting of the fluid which has to pass 
through it. The mucous membrane of the urethra is of a highly sen- 
sitive nature, and more so in some parts than in others, as, for in- 
stance, in the membranous and bulbous portion of the canal ; and 
hence it will be found, that those are the parts most liable to disease. 
The mucous membrane has several openings called lacunce, for the 
furnishing a particular- fluid to moisten and lubricate the urinary 
tube : these also are frequently the seat of disease. 

Independantly of the function of the urethra being to discharge 
the urine, it has also to convey the semen to the orifice of the glans ; 
and here in this act is to be observed the wonderful adaptation of 



MEDICAL GUIDE. ^55 



means to an end. During the excitement attendant upon venereal 
commerce, the seminal fluid accumulates, prior to emission, in the 
bulbous portion, and when the fitting moment arrives for its ejection 
the membranous portion spasmodically contracts, thereby prevent- 
ing the regurgitation of the semen into the bladder, while the mus- 
cles surrounding the bulbous portion contract with energetic force 
and so complete the transmission of the generative fluid. Such are 
the functions of the urethra in health. Now, this canal being exten- 
sively supplied with nerves, that have more extensive communica- 
tion with others than any particular ones have in the whole body, 
and made up, as before stated, of surfacial and muscular membranes 
and exposed to performance of several duties which are often unduly 
called into exercise, cannot be supposed to be exempt from the con- 
sequences of such misappropriation ; and therefore it is very liable 
to inflamation. From the sensitive nature of the lube, it is very ob- 
noxious to spasm, which may be partial, temporary, or continuous ; 
hence spasmodic stricture. This condition is of course dependent 
upon many causes, excess of diet, fatigue, cold, etc., irritating the 
general system ; when from the local irritation previously set up in 
the urethra by the forenamed causes — a neglected gleet or clap — the 
urethra is not long in participating in it : the phenomena are the 
symptoms recently narrated. Highly restorative as the power of na- 
ture may be to remove disease, she does not appear readily disposed 
to interfere with the processes set up in the machine she inhabits, for 
self-defence to protect itself from the constant irritation produced 
by the daily flow of acrid urine, which in several cases often pro- 
duces ulceration ; coagulable lymph is thrown out in the cellular 
structure of the particular diseased parts, thereby thickening the 
walls thereof, constituting permanent stricture, it appearing prefer- 
able to impede a function which a narrowing of the urethric canal 
does, namely, that of urinating, than of allowing ulceration to ensue, 
whereby the urine would escape into the neighboring parts, and oc- 
casion great devastation, and probably death. Permanent stricture, 
as its name implies, outlives the patient ; it never yields unassisted by 
art. I have described the ordinary symptoms of stricture, especially 
that form induced by gonorrhoea. Stricture may arise from other 
causes. Inflamation, in whatever way set up, if allowed to go on or 
remain, will give rise to stricture, and the celerity or tardiness with 
which it takes place depends upon circumstances. An injury from 



156 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



falling astride any hard substance, blows, wounds, contusions occa- 
sioned by riding, the presence of foreign substances, the injudicious 
use of injections, and lastly, which is as frequent a cause as any one 
of those heretofore numerated, masturbation. The violent manual 
efforts made by a young sensualist to procure the sexual orgasm for 
the third or fourth time continuously, I have known to be of that de- 
gree that irritation has been communicated to the whole length of 
the urethra, extending even to the bladder ; and retention of urine, 
in the instance I allude to, ensued, and required much attention be- 
fore it could be subdued. Excessive intercourse with females will 
give rise to the same effects ; not so likely as in the case preceding, 
inasmuch as the former can be practised whenever desired, while the 
latter needs a participator. The act of masturbation repeated, as it 
is, by many youths and others, day after day, and frequently several 
times within each twenty-four hours, must necessarily establish a sen- 
sitiveness orlirritability in the parts, and alternation of stricture is 
sure to follow. 

The positive changes which take place in stricture in the urethral 
passage are these : there ensues a thickening and condensation of the 
deli< ate membrane and the cellular tissue underneath, which may 
possibly unite it to the muscular coats. This thickening or condensa- 
tion is the result of what we call effusion of coagulable lymph. It 
W'll be rather difficult to explain the process ; but lymph is that fluid 
understood to be the nutritious portion of our sustenance or system, 
and which is here yielded up by the vessels which absorb it, and 
which vessels abound, with few exceptions, in every tissue of our 
body. However, it will suffice to say, that where inflamation takes 
place, there is an alteration of stricture, and that alteration is general- 
ly an increase. In stricture, this increase or thickening takes place, 
as I observed before, in particular parts of the urethra, but where 
the inflamation is severe, no part is exempt, and whole lengths of the 
passage become occasionally involved. It is true, certain parts are 
more predisposed than others, as, for instance, the membraneous, 
bulbous, and prostatic portions of the canal ; but there are oftentimes 
cases to be met with where these parts are free, and the remainder 
blocked up. This effusion or thickening assumes various shapes, and 
selects various parts of the urethra. 

In protracted and neglected cases, that part of the urethra between 
the stricture and bladder becomes dilated, from the frequent pressure 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 157 



of the urine upon it, induced by irritability of the bladder, which has 
an increasing desire to empty itself. In process of time, complete 
retention of urine will ensue, ulceration will take place at the irri- 
table spot, and effusion of urine into the surrounding parts will fol- 
low ; and the consequences will be, as in the instance of the spasmodic 
affection, fatal, unless controlled by the skilful interference of the 
surgeon. 

The symptoms of permanent stricture are often as slow in their 
progress, and as insidious in their nature, as they are appalling in 
their results, and are seldom distinctly observed by the patient, until 
firmly established. 

He is suffering from a long-continued gleet, and is first alarmed by 
a partial retention of urine — it passes by drops, or by great straining, 
or not at all. This usually occurs after intemperance, and is relieved 
by the warm bath, fomentations and laxative medicines. This is the 
first stage, and is attributed to the debauch solely ; whereas, at this 
time an alteration of structure is going on in the urethra. Its calibre 
is becoming diminished, which necessarily causes the urine to flow 
in a smaller stream. This is not observed at first ; and it is only after 
a long period that the patient becomes aware of the fact. 

The disease proceeds. In the morning, from the gluing together 
of the sides of the urethra, by the discharge from its diseased surface, 
the urine flows in a forked or double stream ; and then, as this ag- 
glutinution is dissolved, it become natural. 

There is a greater and more frequent desire to make water, disturb- 
ing sleep many times during the night, but unattended with pain, un- 
less the neck of the bladder be affected. 

There are also uneasy sensations in the perinceum, a sense of weight 
in the pelvis, with flying pains in the hips ; and in the permanent 
stricture there is a remarkable symptom frequently prevailing — that 
is, a pain extending down the left thigh from the perinceum. 

As the disease advances, the urine flows in only a very small stream, 
or forked, twisted, double, or broken, or in drops ; and the patient 
solicits the flow by pressing with his finger on the perinceum, and 
elongating the canal, somewhat after the manner in which a dairy- 
maid milks a cow. 

The dilation of the urethra between the stricture and the bladder 
already alluded to, now takes place ; and some urine remains in the 



158 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



dilated part, which oozes through the stricture, making the patient 
wet and uncomfortable. 

There is great difficulty felt, and more time is occupied in getting 
rid of the last drop of water, than formerly. This sensation continues 
all along ; and the cure is never accomplished until this is finally 
removed. 

If the stricture is still neglected, more severe symptoms come on, 
and the neighboring parts become affected also. 

The sphincter ani, or the muscles of the anus, are relaxed, from the 
excessive action of the abdominal muscles 5 and the fceces pass in 
small quantities involuntarily. There is a protrusion of the bowel, 
which adds to the distress, and, by its irritation, brings on a looseness 
or diarrhoea. 

The prostate gland, which is seated near the neck of the bladder, 
suffers inflamation and enlarges, beginning at the orifice of the ducts, 
which open into the urethra. 

The emission of semen, which often happens involuntarily, is attend- 
ed with agonizing pain, producing cold shiverings. followed by heat ; 
and fever soon becomes fairly established. 

The liver and its secretions become diseased, discharging in the 
intestines large quantities of vitiated bile. The fever assumes the in- 
termittent character. The discharge from the urethra is greatly in- 
creased in quantity, showing the formation and bursting of an abscess 
of the prostrate gland into it. 

The bladder is much thickened and diminished in size, and acutely 
or chronically inflamed. The desire to make wate? is continual, al- 
lowing hardly a moment of rest ; and the patient, in the agony of 
despair, prays to be relieved from his sufferings. 

Soon succeeding the irritation of the prostate, the testicles become 
involved, the disease being prop igated by means of their ducts, which 
open into the urethra. The testicles swell a little, become uneasy 
and painful, and a dropsical or hardened enlargement ensues. 

When the stricture forms a nearly complete obstruction to the 
passage of urine, the violent efforts of the bladder to expel it bring 
on ulceration or rupture of the urethra, through which the urine is 
forced into the cellular membrane, with all the power of a spasmodic- 
ally excited bladder. 

The scrotum and neighboring parts become distended, erysipelas 
supervenes, black patches of mortification break out in different 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 159 



places, the febrile symptoms are augmented, and the patient at last 
irrecoverably sinks into a state of coma or muttering delirium, and 
death closes the scene. Such is the progress and termination of 
stricture when neglected. 

There are many provocatives to stricture, and when one mischief is 
progressing, it makes up for its slow initiation by giant strides. _ A 
patient may have a trifling stricture for years without experiencing 
much inconvenience. He takes cold, fatigues himself, commits some 
stomachic or other excess, may possibly have fever, all of which 
more or less disturb the general economy, alter the character of the 
urine, and in that manner doubly accelerate the disorganizatian go- 
ing on in the urethra. A small abscess may spring up in the ure- 
thra, or below it among the cellular membranes and integuments. In 
either case, it chances now and then to burst an opening and a create 
a communication externally with the urinary passage, constituting 
what is called fistula. A person laboring under stricture is always 
liable to these occurrences. As much mischief is done oftentimes 
by mismanagement as by neglect. The clumsy introduction of a 
bougie, or, in other instances, the unjustifiable introduction of one, 
is likely to. and very frequently does, lacerate the delicate and ir- 
ritable membrane, and make a false passage. 

It is melancholy, notwithstanding the resisting and reparative pow- 
er of nature to avoid so saddening a disease as stricture, that it is so 
very prevalent, and that it is occasioned by so many causes. Where 
it is not destructive to life, it is very injurious. It involves, where it 
is severe, other important organs beside the seat of its abiding ; the 
repeated calls upon the blader, through sympathy of the irritation, 
created so near to that viscus, the efforts which at all times it is ob- 
liged to make, although assisted by the muscles of the abdomen and 
contiguous parts to void its contents, at last, and very frequently 
end in paralysis, and total inability to pass water ensues, except 
through the aid of the catheter. Independently of which, where so 
much disease exists as in the urethra, the urine also constantly press- 
ing against ulcerating and irritable surfaces, extravasation of that 
fecretion takes place, and the most formidable and alarming, conse- 
quences ensue. In the simplest form of stricture, many important 
functions are disturbed. A very frequent consequence is permanent 
irritability of the bladder, so that the patient is obliged, ten or 
twelve times a day, to micurate, and is unable to pass through the 



160 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

night without suffering nearly the same inconvenience. Besides 
which, the natural sensitiveness of the genital organs become speed- 
ily and much impaired. I am satisfied that where disorganization of 
the testicles does not exist, and where the patient is young, or even 
middle-aged, if he be impotent, he will in nine cases out of ten be 
found to have stricture. There are exceptions, but in nearly all 
cases of impuissance there will be found, if not stricture, at least 
some morbid irritability of the urethra. During the existence of 
stricture, there is generally a vitiated secretion from the seat of mis- 
chief, constituting a gleet ; therefore a gleet at all times should be 
regarded, lest it be an indication of something more than a mere 
weeping from enfeebled vessels. 

Before commencing the cure of stricture it is necessary for the pa- 
tient, in all cases to communicate to me his general symptoms. It 
is unnecessary, perhaps for me to say, that the names of writers 
are kept with the most inviolable secrecy, and their cases treated in 
accordance with the requirements of an enlightened age. A certain 
and speedy cure can be accomplished by my treatment, if applica- 
tion is seasonably made. A course of medicines and full instruc- 
tions, will be forwarded for $10. 

Diseases op the Testicles.— The testicles, from their office and 
connexion with other structures equally as important, are liable to 
many excitations. In gonorrhoea they are subject to sympathetic in- 
flamation, as in hernia humoralis, which, if neglected or maltreated, 
gives rise to abscess or chronic hardness. Inflamatlon also occurs in 
them as in other structures. Accidents, such as blows or bruises, 
horse-riding, wearing very tight pantaloons, are all fertile sources of 
derangement. Scrofulous constitutions are predisposed to have their 
testicles, like the rest of the glands, diseased. The most frequent 
disturbance, however, of the testicles, is a dilation of the veins, con- 
stituting what is called varicocele ; and generally accompanied by a 
wasting away of the testicle itself. It is rare, indeed, to find peafect- 
ly healthy testicles in an individual who has been exposed to amatory 
pleasures and sensualities ; and as, of course, even amative desfre, 
as well as amative power, depends upon the absolute sound condition 
of the glands in question, the inference is, that in very numerous 
persons, the sexual instinct is considerably diminished, and notunfre- 
quently wholly suppressed, before half the natural term of their ex- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 161 



istence has expired, at which time they ought in reality to be at the 
climax of their prime and capability. 

It is not so much a painful complaint as an unpleasant one. There 
are occassionally pains in the back and loins, and other feelings, 
creating a sensation of lassitude and weariness ; and now and then 
some local uneasiness is felt. 

Varicocele gives to the examiner a sensation as though he were 
grasping a bundle of soft cords. It sometimes exists to such a degree 
as to resemble a rupture. In advanced stages of the disease, or dis- 
organization, the epididymis becomes detached from the body of the 
testicle, and is plainly distinguishable by the finger. The result of 
all is, that a considerable diminntion of sexual power takes place ; 
and if means are not adopted to arrest a further break-up of the 
structure, the venereal appetite will subside altogether. 

The treatment consists in giving support by means of a suspensory 
bandage, which may be worn during the day, and the use of local 
refrigerants night and morning. The state of health is sometimes 
mixed up with it ; and tonics and generous diet are useful. The cold 
shower bath helps to brace the system. It is a complaint in which, 
if it be not of very great severity, nor very long continuance, much 
good may be done. In some instances the veins may be allowed to 
empty themselves, which they will do when the body is in a recum- 
bent position, and a coated ivory ring, or a silken band, may be so 
placed around them as shall prevent their refilling. It is, however, a 
case fitter for the surgeon 7 s management. 

Abscess in the Testicle. — The testicle is subject to inflamation 
and suppuration, like any oth^r structure. A case about three years 
ago fell under my notice, where a quantity of dark foetid fluid was 
released on puncturing a testicle in which the sense of fluctuation 
was very evident ; and the patient stated that it had been five or six 
years in arriving at that condition. He was wasted considerably 
from nocturnal perspirations and acute pain, and his sexual desire 
was much diminished. The case did well, and the latter function 
was restored without much loss. 

Hydrocele. — Hydrocele is an accumulation of yellow serous fluid 
in the tunica vaginalis testis, or peritoneal covering of the testicle . It 
is a disease incident to every period of life, but more commonly met 
with in grown persons. The ordinary formation of hydrocele is un- 
attended with pain ; and the patient accidentally discovers the exist- 
11 



162 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



ence of the swelling, but oftentimes not until it has attained a con- 
siderable magnitude. The tumor, when large, produces an unsightly- 
appearance, and forms a hinderance to sexual intercourse, from the 
integuments of the penis being involved therein, and thereby prevent- 
ing a perfect erection of that organ. The disease may appear to 
originate spontaneously ; but it is usually traceable to some bruise, 
blow, or other external injury to the part. 

The notion that the cure of hydrocele depends on promoting ad- 
hesion to the sides of the tunica vaginalis with the testicle is some- 
what upset by several preparations in the London hospitals, exhibit- 
ing the tunic taken from persons in whom a radical cure was effected 
by injection, and in whom no fluid was reproduced ; nor were the 
sides of the said investment at all adherent with the testicle, but apart, 
as in the healthiest individual. Hitherto surgeons, acting on the 
aforesaid notion, with a view to obliterate the cavity, adopted various 
plans of treatment — such as, for instance, laying open the entire 
cavity, cutting away a portion of the tunica vaginalis, the application 
of caustic, and, lastly, the seton, as advised by Dr. Pott, which was 
suffered to liberate itself by ulceration. When, in any of these in- 
stances, suppuration was induced, the cavity became in time filled up 
by the granulating process. The plan of the present day is by per- 
forating the sac with a trocar, suffering the effused fluid to escape, 
and injecting some stimulating liquid which is allowed to remain 
until a degree of inflamation is produced, that shall cause an oblitera- 
tion of the cavity by adhesion, or, as it has also been proved, prevent 
a reproduction of the fluid, by closing the mouths or altering the dis- 
eased action of the exhalent arteries. Which ever be the effect pro- 
duced thereby, the cure is almost certain, and the principles of the 
treatment consequently judicious. But, notwithstanding the opera- 
tion is not always immediately, nor ultimately successful ; the degree 
of inflamation set up may be insufficient, and the effusion again take 
place, and the operation may require a second and third repetition ; 
or an excessive degree of inflamation may ensue, that shall occasion 
serious constitutional disturbance, either by suffering the injected 
fluid to remain too long, or its being of too stimulative a character, 
or from its escaping into the cellular membrane of the scrotum, an 
accident not unfrequent, unless great care be used in the operation. 

Radical Cure of Hydrocele. — The term radical is applied to the 
process narrated in the last case ; but, as has been observed, the op- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



163 



eration is occasionally required to be repeated several times. In the 
case I am adverting to, after tapping, several injections were thrown 
in between the tunics, and withdrawn ; and on one occasion the mor- 
bid fluid was secreted to the greatest possible distention of the scro- 
tum by the following morning. Its subsequent withdrawal, and the 
injection of a more aetive stimulant, effected, however, a permanent 
cure. In the country, surgeons frequently plunge a lancet in the 
scrotum, suffer the effused liquid to escape, and desire the patient 
merely to wrap the parts up in a handkerchief, to take no further 
heed, and to ride home : and these' cases generally do well. 

Hydrocele Cured by Acupuncturation. — A new method of treat- 
ing hydrocele has of late years been introduced, namely by the in- 
sertion of a needle into the sac or bladder of the testicle, which up- 
on its withdrawal, permits the fluid to escape into the cellular mem- 
brane, whence it is rapidly absorbed. A pint of fluid may be got 
rid of in that way in two or three hours ; and, although the disease 
may not be radically cured, it will occupy several months before a 
reaccumulation of the fluid takes place. In recent cases, this treat- 
ment oftentimes proves permanently successful. Many nervous per- 
sons will not submit to anything approaching an operation, not even 
to the simple one of acupunctu ration. In such cases, there is no al- 
ternative but counter-irritants, to be applied over the part. A course 
of medicines suitable for the speedy cure of the foregoing com- 
plaint will be sent to a patient upon a receipt of a fee of $10. 

It is at all times best to attend early to any disease of the testicle ; 
the progress is so rapid, the mischief so great, and the consequences 
so deplorable, of uncontrolled disease. 

Eruptions incident to the Organs of Generation and the Rec- 
tum. — The structures included in the above heading are subject to a 
variety of eruptions, varying in character, intensity, and duration. 
Thus we have the papular, a chronic inflamation characterized by 
papules, or very minute pimples, of nearly the same color as the skin 
accompanied by intense itching, and terminating, when broken by 
scratching, in small circular crusts : this is called, by dermoid pa- 
thologist, Prurigo. Another order of eruption is designated the 
vesicular and pustular-, and consists of groups of small pimples of a 
very bright red color, aud containing a serous fluid. They are ac- 
companied by itching, which increases as the contained humor be- 
comes turbid, and assumes the puriform aspect ; they then incrus- 



164 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

tate, and at the end of about a lonnight drop off, leaving the skin 
healthy underneath. The name given to this variety is Herpes. 

The last and most inveterate species is characterized by an itching 
of the skin, which, on inspection, appears of a suffused redness, and 
gives off, after a while, a number of thin scales : these reaccumulate, 
and the entire organs of generation becomes sometimes covered 
with similar patches : this is denominated Psoriasis. These affec- 
tions, which are but various degrees of inflamation, modified by idio- 
syncrasy and habit, arise from local and constitutional causes. 
Among these are frequent excitation of the organs of generation, 
the contact of the fluids secreted during sexual intercourse, an un- 
healthy and relaxed condition of the genitals, and, lastly, a disorder- 
ed state of the digestive organs. It is astonishing to what an extent 
these disorders prevail, and more to find how long the individuals, 
probably from a sense of diffidence in seeking professional assis- 
tance, endure them. I have encountered many patients who have 
informed me that they have had the complaint upon them from five 
to ten years, purposing during the whole of that period to consult 
some medical friend, but postponing it until their interview with my- 
self ; and it is ever to be regretted, as the cure may always be effect- 
ed in a week or two, with moderate attention and perseverance ; 
but if the attempt be neglected, there is no limiting the extent to 
which the disease may proceed. Local diseases, especially of such 
a nature as those under consideration can not exist any great length 
of time without involving the digestive organs, which become sym- 
pathetically deranged ; and in like manner do local diseases partici- 
pate with dyspeptic disturbances — each, therefore, goes on aggrava- 
ting the other. 

Diseases of the Bladder. — The anatomical description of the blad- 
der will be found in the earlier pages of this work. It may simply be 
restated : 

The bladder is a viscus somewhat similar in structure to the stom- 
ach. It is composed of several coats — muscular, nervous and mu- 
cous. Each are liable to diseases peculiar to their several structures. 
The size of the bladder differs in most persons, and in the sexes. 

The female bladder is generally the largest ; but largeness is ob- 
servable more especially in females who have borne children. The 
proverbial ability of females to retain their urine longer than men is 
thus accounted lor. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 165 



Much mischief is often done by both sexes disobeying the particu- 
lar " call of nature" to urinate ; and the younger branches should 
have that fact impressed upon them. I have known children ac- 
quire a severe and obstinate form of irritability of the bladder by 
retaining their urine too long. Diseases of the bladder are gener- 
ally the consequences of other complaints, and those complaints 
have already been enumerated. They may be summed up : 

Gonorrhoea extending to the bladder, and producing absolutely a 
clap of the bladder. If the inflamation is not subdued, or does not 
subside, probably some permanent mischief ensues ; at all events, 
the inflamation extends, and involves other coats than the interior. 
Accordingly, we have inflamation of the muscular coats, the nervous 
coats, and, lastly, the peritoneal coat. These terminations, severally 
have certain symptoms, and certain n imes. 

There are others, and among them may be named colds, local in- 
juries, haemorrhoids, excess in drinking particular fluids, sensual in- 
dulgences, diseased condition of the kidneys, or long retention or 
vitiated states of the urine, nervousness, and, lastly, the formation of 
stone in the bladder. The most common form of the bladder ail- 
ment is irritability, which is a milder term for inflamation. Then we 
have absolu'ely inflamation. and, lastly, loss of power, or paralysis. 

Irritability of the Bladder. — The chief indication of disease af- 
fecting tbe bladder is a frequent desire which the patient experiences 
to pass his water ; but that symptom alone does not determine the 
nature of the complaint. It may be irritable from sympathy with 
surrounding irritation, and disappear on the subsidence of that irri- 
tation. It may constantly be fretting the patient by its contractions, 
through the urine (owing to some general derangement in the system 
being altered in its chemical qualities) exciting the bladder the mo- 
ment it is secreted therein ; or it may be the result of nervous agita- 
tion, with or without any actual diseased state of the bladder. These 
causes should be understo d to regulate the treatment, which of 
course must be qualified by the provocation, and which the patient, 
when in doubt, had better leave to the discrimination of his phy- 
sician. 

Paralysis of the Bladder. — The bladder may become, through 
loss of nervous stimulus, insensible to irritation, and consequently 
be disobedient to its natural functions. The urine in these cases, ac- 
cumulates in large quantities, distend the bladder to its utmost, 



166 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



which it does without pain ; and the excess of secretion then drib- 
bles away involuntarily. This state of the bladder is called paraly- 
sis, and is an aggravated form of disease, arising from the same 
causes that establish inflamation, or from some contiguous injury. 
The treatment of paralysis of the bladder must be intrusted to ex- 
perienced hands ; it consists chiefly of purgatives, stimulatives, 
enemata up the rectum, the introduction of the catheter, and cold 
bath, rest, and general medicinal nervous excitant. 

Inflamation of the Bladder. — Cases of acute inflamation of the 
bladder are of rare occurrence; but they do occur, occasionally prove 
fatal, and always are productive of much general disturbance, which 
yields not without vigorous and active treatment. Gonorrhoea is 
most usually the exciting cause. On the sudden suppression of the 
urethral discharge, an inflamation sympathetically seizes the testicle, 
the glands in the groin, or the bladder ; and when the latter is the 
seat of the transference, it may be held as the ratio of the severity 
of the disease. In inflamation of the bladder, there is a constant 
desire to pass water, which, when made, is usually in very small 
quantities, and leaves a sediment. The patient often experiences an 
insupportable inclination to urinate, with a sensation as though the 
bladder were ready to burst — whereas there may be. little or no 
urine in it. There is much pain at the root of the penis, and it ex- 
tends along the perinceum to the rectum, which latter is assailed with 
almost constant spasms resembling straining. There is considerable 
thirst, fever, and anxiety ; the pulse is full and quick, the tongue 
furred, and all those symptoms are present that prevail during severe 
constitutional excitement. The treatment consists of bleeding, 
leeching, or cupping ; relieving the bowels by castor oil and injec- 
tions ; mucilaginous drinks, administering opiates, preserving rest, 
and total abstinence from stimulating diet. If these means fail in 
s.ibdning the inflamation it runs on to ulceration, permitting extra- 
vasation of urine occasioning mortification and death ; but where 
they are effectual, the patient is soon left free from complaint. It 
often happens that the inflamation is not so vigorously treated, or it 
may be wh lly neglected, and yet it may happily resolve itself with- 
out proceeding to the extremity narrated ; but, unfortunately, it may 
degenerate into a minor but not. less troublesome form, denominated 
chronic, and which, in tact, is the disease* christened " irritability," 
and the one, for obvious reasons, as above stated, for which relief is 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



167 



most usually sought, the patieut having in vain daily looked for the 
subsidence of his malady. Having stated that irritability of the 
bladder must be treated with reference to its cause, it is obvious that 
more than non-medical discrimination is required. Where it depends 
upon stricture, the stricture must be first cured ; where upon stone 
in the bladder, the stone must be removed ; where upon sympathetic 
inflamation, the source must be attacked, and so on. 

However, it 'has been stated that other causes may exist — that it 
may even be a primary disease in itself ; and as this treatise professes 
to be a private mentor to the invalid, I will detail such measures as 
may be safely adopted for the cure of a complaint as often borne from 
being trusted to unskilful hands, as from a morbid delicacy in seeking 
proper and legitimate relief. The ordinary symptoms are, first, an 
inordinate desire to make water ; it flows in small quantities, with 
pain before, during, and after. The urine has an offensive am- 
moniacal odor ; it deposites a thick, adhesive mucus, of a gray or 
brown color, sometimes streaked with blood, and of an alkaline 
character. 

In this stage of affairs, rest is indispensable ; sedatives and opiates 
may be given ; but alkalies (rarely omitted in prescriptions for in- 
continence of urine) should not be indiscriminately given, for they 
only render the urine more alkaline, which occasions it to deposite 
calcareous flakes, that, if not passed off, accumulate, unite, and lay 
the foundation of that frightful disease, stone in the bladder. The 
extract of conium, or henbane, combined with mucilage, may be given 
in doses of three to five grains every six hours. The tincture of hen- 
fame, in doses of a fluid-drachm, or the tincture of opium, not exceeding 
ten or fifteen drops at a time, may be given in like manner, and con- 
tinued for several days, keeping the bowels open with castor oil. 
The daily or alternate daily use of the hot, general, or hip bath, will 
afford immense relief. The various preparations of morphine, aconitine, 
and of hops, possess great power in small and frequent doses. The 
uva ursi is a remedy of ancient note, and is often prescribed with 
advantage ; the dose is one scruple to a drachm in milk, or any bland 
fluid, three times a day, or it may be taken in infusion or decoction, 
one ounce to a pint of water — that quantity to be drank during the 
day. The pareria brava, exhibited in a decoction (by simmering 
three pints of water, containg half an ounce of the root, down to a 
pint), may be taken in divided doses of eight or twelve ounces during 



168 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



the day, or in the form of extract, in quantity of a scruple, which 
equals the above amount of decoction. 

The achillce millefolice is an excellent plant, and possesses astonish- 
ishing astringent powers, often restoring the tone of the bladder to a 
healthy condition, when all other remedies have failed. A handful 
of the leaves are to be infused in a pint of boiling water, which, when 
cool, may be poured off, and given in doses of a cupful three times a 
day. Any of the preceding sedatives may be given in conjunction 
with these preparations. 

Lime-water taken with milk, as an ordinary drink, is a useful cor- 
rective. 

The buchu (the diosma crenta) — an ounce infused for several hours 
in a pint of boiling water, and a wine-glass full of the cooled liquid 
administered three or four times a day — has justly obtained some 
notoriety. 

Where all these means prove ineffectual, the injection of sedative 
and astringent applications often answers the most sanguine expecta- 
tions ; but they should be employed only by professional persons, and 
even then with great care ; as when the disease has been at its height, 
and they have been used, much inconvenience, and even mischief, 
has been occasioned. A mild infusion of poppies, or weak gruel, 
may be thrown in, once or twice a day, in quantities not exceeding 
two or three ounces at a time, and withdrawn after being suffered to 
remain thirty or forty seconds. A catheter, with elastic bag, should 
be the instrument used. 

In the more chronic forms, where the urine does not depositemuch 
mucus, or is tinged with blood, the addition of ten drops (very gradual- 
ly increasing the quantity) of the diluted nitric acid may be made to 
rhe fluid injected, repeating or declining the operation, as the effects 
are discovered to be advantageous or prejudcial. 

In an irritable state of the bladder depending on some disease of 
the kidney, there is a frequent desire to void the urine without there 
being any. or but very little, urine in the bladder. There is also a 
severe cutting pain felt about the neck of the bladder, especially 
after each effort to make water, followed or attended by a '-languid 77 
pain in the lions. The urine is often the color of whey, at other times 
tinged with blood, and deposites, when suffered to remain a while, a 
purulent sediment. The severe symptoms should be allayed by the 
same remedies as prescribed in irritable bladder arising from other 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 169 



causes ; but the original seat of the disease in this instance demands 
energetic attention. The various counter-irritaDts are in great re- 
quisition ; leeches, blisters, setous, etc. 

In addition to the tonics and astringents already advised, an infusion 
of the wild-carrot seed, made by macerating for a couple of hours one 
ounce of the seeds bruised in a pint of boiling water (drinking, when 
cool and strained, the whole of the liquid in divided doses during 
the day), may be taken with every chance of relief. As in the other 
infusions, the patient must persevere in the use of this for some time. 

I would urgently impress upon my readers, the necessity of prompt 
and skilful treatment at an early stage of any of the foregoing diseases. 
A weeks delay in seeking proper remedies may be productive of 
years of bodily suffering and may indeed ruin the poor sufferer for 
the remnant of his life. Upon receipt of a written statement of the 
case of any one afflicted, accompanied by a fee of from $10 to $15 
according to the nature of the malady, I will at once send a package 
of medicines with full instructions for use, continuing advice and 
treatment until a cure is fully effected. Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & 
Co., New York City. 

What Sort of Kisses Different Women Love Best. 

Our Northern and our Southern misses 

Lip-service love, and doat on kisses ; 

A stolen kiss the first will capture, 

The second ones embrace with rapture. 

A Russian lass her lover clips, 

And seems to grow upon his lips : 

Circassian Maids (their pleasures heightening) 

Electric kisses choose like lightning, 

While Turkish fair ones kiss and toy. 

And linger to prolong their joy. 

Italian virgins, who are vainer, 

Are fond of hunting like Diana, 

Until, overtaken out of breath, 

Theyr'e ready to be kissed to death : 

A Spanish Bonaroba ever 

Appears so loth her lips to sever. 



110 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



From him she worships— they entwine 
Like two fond branches of a vine. 
A German, Swiss, or Dutch adorer 
Kiss slow and sure, resembling Flora, 
Who kisses every fruit tree slowly, 
Producing blossoms sweet and holy., 
French belles, who lure us with their eyes, 
All dearly love to tantalize : 
And British damsels, rather silly, 
Appear at first extremely chilly, 
Yet all the while their hearts, like fruit, 
Grow ripe, for every kiss takes root 
Upon their nervous lips — a rover 
Might then be kissing them all over. 
A Welsh girl likes an amorous figbt, 
And while you kiss her, she will bite, 
Convuls'd delirious with delight. 
A Scottish Lassie would ye court ! 
Salute her, for she loves the sport, 
And frolic with the winsome fairy, 
As Burns once wooed his Highland Mary ; 
And O the Shelahs ! Erin's houris, 
(We do not mean Hibernian Fairies), 
But Irish Beauties — mind the rumor, 
To kiss them "when they're in the humor." 
Between brunettes and blonds, the art 
Of kissing soon is learned by heart ; 
One likes it slow, the other quick, 
Some like to pause and play a trick ; 
Nor give their vital spirits vent, 
Like past endurance, when they swoon! 
While many, full of devilment, 
Will prematurely crave a boon. 
Thus women may be caught like fishes, 
If we have baits to meet their wishes. 
•Man feels a thrilling titilation, 
Electrified in every nation, 
To kiss the girls by inspiration. 
Fair Eve returned what Adam gave her, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. Ill 



(Forbidden fruit), she liked the flavor ; 
And kissing always goes by favor. 



Dyspepsia. 

Its Origin, Symptoms, Pathology and Curative Treatment.— The 
term dyspepsia, comes from the Greek language, and literally means 
bad digestion, or difficulty of digestion. To the common reader, per- 
haps neither the word dyspepsia nor digestion, or rather we should say 
indigestion, would convey any idea of the peculiar character of the 
disease which these terms are intended to indicate or design- 
nate. In plain language, dyspepsia or indigestion is a disorder- 
ed condition of the stomach, which prevents the food that w r e take in 
at the mouth, and after being swallowed enters into the stomach, 
from being reduced to pulp, or churned up, preparatory to the mass 
being converted into chyme, chyle, and afterw r ards venous and arterial 
blood, intended for the ruddy health and elastic vigor of the entire 
human frame. 

There are several natural processes that takes place before food can 
be converted into the nutritive elements necessary to sustain the or- 
ganism. The food is first taken into the mouth, as a matter of course. 
Here it is chewed up by the teeth, and moistened by a watery secre- 
tion call saliva and so rendered fit to pass down a tube back of the 
windpipe into the stomach, where it enters in the shape of small 
round balls, and then undergoes further rotary or churning processes 
until the whole stomach is filled with a pulpy or jelly-like substance. 
This solution of food is accomplished by a sort of peristaltic motion 
t)f the stomach, and alternate contnction and dilation of its walls, 
thus producing a churning movement, throwing its contents from 
side to side, so as to come In contact with a peculiar secretion called 
the gastric juice, which is poured out abundantly from millions of 
minute tubes which are found in the inner sides or walls of the 
stomach. 

After the food has thus been converted into chyme it passes out of 
the stomach through the pylorus or pylonc orifice, a duct, or tube, in 
the right extremity ot it, into the second stomach, or duodenum. 

Here the food is further filtered, by means of a yellow fluid calLe.^ 



172 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



bile, which is furnished from the gall-bladder in the liver, and poured 
into the duodenum through a small tube called the gall-duct The 
contents of the second stomach is likewise mixed with a peculiar 
fluid called the pancreatic juice. This fluid resembles the saliva of 
the mouth and is poured out from a large gland lying back of the 
stomach, called the pancreas. The commingling of the bile and the 
pancreatic juice with the food, now converts chyle, a whitish fluid re- 
sembling thin buttermilk. It should be stated here that the gastric 
juice is of a acid nature, hence the chyme (a whitish cream-like semi- 
fluid mass) has also an acid character. Now, in order to the pro- 
cesses of absorption, assimilation, and nutrition, it is necessary that 
this acidity of the chyme should be neutralized otherwise it would 
torment, cause flatulence, irritation, pain and much distress in all 
parts of the body, especially about the region of the stomach. 
Hence the bile, which is an alkaline by mingling with the chyme in 
the duodenum, neutralizes its acidity, and thus renders it a bland, 
mild, neutral fluid, which is then capable of being kindly received 
by the absorbants and welcomed into the life currents of the body. 

The food, or chyle, after passing out of the duodenum now enters 
into the intestines, or the grand channel or canal, which leads to the 
lower extremities of the trunk of the body, and carries oft" all refuse 
or intmtritious matter, as fceces, etc. While the food is stilL in the in- 
testines, it is subjected to a further churning or peristaltic move- 
ment, in order to separate the nutritious from the innutritious matter. 
The term peristaltic means spiral, vermicular or worm-like. The 
peristaltic motion of the intestines is performed by the contraction of 
the circular and longitudinal fibres composing their fleshy coats, by 
which the chyle is driven into the orifice of the lacteals, and the ex- 
crements are protruded towards the anus. The lacteals are distribut- 
ed all along the surface of the intestines. They embrace thousands 
of little absorbing vessels or tubes, their mouths opening into the in- 
testines. These lacteals absorb or drink up from the chyle all the 
nutritious matter it contains, which is then conveyed by other tubes 
into the veins or channels, called blood vessels, which conveys the 
venous blood to the heart, thence through the lungs, where it be- 
come aerified by breathing the atmospheric air, the carbonic acid of 
the system passing out from the lungs while the oxygen is taken in, 
the latter purifying the blood, and changing its color from a purple 
to a bright vermillion, which blood now enters the left side of the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 173 



heart, passing thence by a large tube called the aorta into the arteries 
which gradually lessen in size until they dwindle into capillaries, or 
tubes finer than the finest hair, or which cannot be discerned under a 
powerful miscroscope. It is the arterial blood which gives the roses 
to the cheek and the rich relucent color to the healthy skin. All 
these changes are necessary to the enjoyment of good health. It is 
obvious that without good digestion, it is impossible to have sweet 
pure blood, and ruddy health. The processes of digestion have no im- 
portant bearing upon the circulation of the blood. To give some idea 
of what is meant by circulation, it is proper here to say there are 
two systems of vessels or organs required to complete the same. 
The venous circulation may be compared to a spring of water arising 
in a mountain (stomach) which bubbles forth, and meets numerous 
tributaries, rivulets, etc., until a great river is formed, which finally 
divides into branches (the ascending and descending vena cava) and 
finally unite again and pour their combined flood into the ocean (or 
right of the heart). Or the venous circulation may be compared to 
a tree, standing erect, the topmost branches becoming larger and 
larger until they connect with the main trunk of the tree, which may 
be called the vena cava, and the roots, the heart and lungs. 

The arterial circulation, on the other hand is quite the reverse of 
this. It is like tracing a vein from its junction with the sea, back 
through all its branches or tributaries until finally lost in its obscure 
fountain source. 

It will at once be seen, that where there is a failure to perform their 
offices fully on the part of any of the organs engaged in preparing 
the food for nutrition, there will be Indigestion, which, if not speedily 
corrected, will ultimately lead to Dyspepsia, one of the most distress- 
ing complaints to which the human system is liable. It is therefore 
necessary that the stomach should dissolve the food, the liver to furnish 
its bile and the pancreas its juice, in order to enable the intestine to 
perform its peristaltic duty, and the lacteals to take up the nutriment 
which is necessary to form good blood and afford nourishment and 
health to the general organism. 

The causes of indigestion are plainly apparent. They arise from 
many things independent of the mere action of the various organs. 

A healthy digestion depends, 1st. On a proper supply of nutricious 
or digestible food. 

2nd. Upon complete mastication of the food before it is swallow- 



1Y4 * THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



ed. This food should be thoroughly saturated with the saliva or 
secretion of the salivary glands of the mouth alone, unmixed with 
water, or other fluids, in order that the gastric juice may act upon it 
and convert it into proper chyme, pulp or cream. 

3d. The gastric juice must flow in adequate quantity and be of a 
good quality, while the peristaltic or chewing motion must take place 
in the stomach in a natural manner. 

4th. The liver and pancreas must furnish, when needed, a proper 
supply of bile and pancreatic juice. 

5 th. The intestines must perform their offices in a regular manner, 
by pushing the dissolved food through them towards the anus, while 
the lacteals must in the meantime take up the nutriment from the 
chyle in order to make blood and nourish the organism. It is plain, 
if any of these organs are at fault, there is Indigestion, and ultimately, 
of not corrected, Dyspepsia. Sometimes all these organs are at fault 
Sometimes only one in reality, although all the others must be more 
or less effected by sympathetic response, to any abnormal condition. 
There may be too much or too little of the gastric juice, or it is of a 
poor quality ; or the stomach may have lost its muscular tone and 
strength, which causes the food to lie motionless within its cavity. 
When this is the case, we will have wind in the stomach, a dead 
heavy pain, and a peculiar and distressing sinking sort of a feeling. 
The liver may be torpid or inactive ; the bile is either withheld or 
it is of a vicious quality, or there may be an excess of bile. 
These derangements will produce fermentation of the food in the 
duodenum, flatulence, cutting pains, and costiveness, or irritation of 
the bowels, with diarrhoea, evacuation, loss of strength, &c. 

As a matter of course, the forms, phases, conditions, symptoms, and 
effects of indigestion are exceedingly numerous and therefore cannot 
be described in a single article like the present. The main causes, 
however, arise from sedentary habits, improper diet and want of pro- 
per exercise in the open air. 

I have prepared a medicine of most wonderous efficacy in all dis- 
eases arising from a disordered stomach or Indigestion, or Dyspepsia., 
It is a distillation of the juices of rare and hitherto unknown plants, 
gathered in various parts of the world, by agents expressly employed 
by us. We have thus a quantity of the freshness and purity of every 
article used in our series of medical preparations. This especial 
compound may be said to be literally an Arterial Essence. It has 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



115 



a most wonderful action on the arterial system. It gives the richest 
vermillion to its color, strength to the corpuscles, thus ensuring the 
the building up of healthy flesh structures and imparting the most 
bouyont health to the most broken down or debilitated constitution, 
by whatever cause induced. 

A complete course of medicine, adapted to every individual case 
of Dyspepsia will be sent on receipt of $15. To those too poor to 
pay $15, twelve dollars will be received. Full and specific directions 
will accompany each one of these courses of medicine. Cures guar- 
anteed in every case. Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York 
City. 

All Persons Scientific. 

Within the last years science, literature and art, have made won- 
derful progress throughout the civilized world. Our discoveries and 
inventions have surpassed the boldest flights of imagination. Our 
scientific achievements have gone beyond all that could have been 
anticipated. More, and better than this, the result of our investiga- 
tions, the triumphs won, have been popularized, and useful know- 
ledge, no longer a forbidden fruit, has spread its rich and varied of- 
ferings at the feet of all. The dark days of the olden times have 
passed away, and truths are now brought out in all their strength and 
beauty, that were never seen then, while old truths have been given 
new forms, and new proportions — forms so grotesquely represented, 
proportions so exaggerated or undervalued in those same dark days. 
Now the secrets of manufacture, are divulged — the labors of the man 
of science, and of the artizan, are open to all, and the world is a 
great practical school in which everybody studies with noble emu- 
lation to outstrip his fellows. All persons should be, to a certain 
extent, scientific, and there is nothing so useful, and such an aid to 
the aspirant for fame and riches, as a knowledge of chemistry. I do 
not allude to a book knowledge of that science, but to a practical 
knowledge, even if it be only rudimental. Almost every one can fit 
up a small laboratory with chemicals and apparatus at a very small 
cost — say twenty-five dollars. This would buy all the tests and ap- 
paratus necessary for teaching the general principle of chemistry. 
Of course the above-mentioned small sum does not admit of the pur- 



It6 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

chase of large apparatus. All the experiments must be performed 
on the small scale ; the operator must fashion his own glass instru- 
ments out of tubes, and make several of his own re-agents ; but 
these very acts are instructive and should not be underrated. I 
would not advise my readers to purchase any of the portable labora- 
tories which are advertised ; let them obtain a blowpipe, a pound or 
so of glass tube, the mineral acids, a few re-agents a little filtering 
paper, and they will have gone a great way towards the purchase of 
the essentials. 

Curability of Consumption. 

On the Origin, Nature and Treatment of Consumption and all 
other Chest or Thoracic Diseases. Extraordinary Revelations. 
Frightful Mortality. Remarkable Curative Discoveries. 

The excessive mortality arising from Tuberculous or Pulmonary 
Consumption and other diseases of the Glandular and Respiratory 
Organs, among people in all parts of the world and more particular- 
ly in the United States, might well lead every philanthropic mind to 
a minute investigation of the causes of such extraordinary waste of 
human life, with a view to the discovery of more satisfactory preventa- 
tives and curative agencies than have hitherto been devised and com- 
municated to the people, by the medical practitioners of the world. 
Physicians, indeed, have too long abandoned the possibility of cure, 
except in the earlier stages of the disease ; hence victim is added to 
victim every hour, and all ages, sexes, and conditions of mankind 
are swept in myraids every year to an untimely grave. 

Medical Science had, of a truth, in regard to Pulmonary affections 
at least,remained literally stationary for more than two thousand years, 
until the beginning of the present century, when medical men began 
to pay greater attention to the Pathology of this disease, and to employ 
remedies for its cure entirely opposite to those which had received 
the sanction of the wisest of Eculapians during the period of so many 
musty cycles of time. The term Pathology, indeed, is quite a new 
word in the medical vocabulary, inasmuch as it was not until near 
the close of ihe last century that the illustrious physicians of France 
Laennec, Louis, and Andral, with compeers equally enlightened in Ger- 



MEDICAL GUIDE." 177 

Biany and other parts of Europe, began to explain, in a scientific 
wanner, the nature of diseases, their causes and symptoms. Hence 
we may affirm if practicing physic without intellect constitutes 
Empiricism, then, surely, the physicians who continue to treat diseases 
after the ancient formulas, are fairly obnoxious to the charge of 
Quackery, for all such blindly pursue an i^m/s/a^s.without a principle 
of science or philosphical judgment to guide them in diagnosing 
diseases, and applying adequate or appropriate remedies, agreeably 
to the progress in the ravages of disorder, or the peculiar idiosyncra- 
cies of their patients. Indeed. Life itself, until of late years, has only 
been known to the world empirically. A knowledge of disease has 
been acquired in the same way. and accordingly the sameness icork 
manner adopted for their cure or amelioration. 

Hence we are pleased to observe that not only Academies of Medi- 
cine are awaking up to the importance of a thorough investigation 
of the origin and nature of Thoracic diseases, but some of our learned 
Geographical Societies have given these momentous subjects their 
serious and deliberate attention. At a late meeting of the Geogra- 
phical Society of New York, of which learned body, the Rev. Francis 
Hawks. D. D. is the President, a very valuable paper, being an 
elaborate collection of facts and statistics in relation to Consumption 
throughout the world, was read by Dr. Millar. From these statistics 
we have the appalling facts, that at least one-sixth of all the deaths 
among the human race occur from that most formidable and terrible 
disorder — Consumption ! In Xew York alone, according to Dr. Millar, 
it destroys one-third more lives than all the other diseases of the re- 
spiratory organs, such as bronchitis, congestion and inflamation of the 
lungs, catarrh and influenza, hooping-cough, asthma, etc. 

By reference to the bills of mortality of any country or city in the 
world, the preponderence of deaths from Consumption will be found, 
as already stated, to be full one-sixth of the deaths from all other 
causes. In some places the waste of life is nearly equal to that from 
all other diseases and causualties combined. This is a startling as- 
sumption ; but a slight investigation will affirm the terrible fact. 

In London, which has a population of about three millions, the num- 
ber of deaths from pulmonary affections, exceeds seven-thousand an- 
nually. In the whole of England, it is computed that sixty thousand 
die annually from the same complaints. If to these are added 
numerous other disorders of the respiratory organs, and of the heart. 
12 



118 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



it may be fairly estimated that one-half oi the deaths in Great Britain 
depend on diseases of the chest or thorax. 

In New York and its environs, estimating the population at one 
million, the deaths from Consumption average about a hundred and 
twenty a week, or over six thousand a year — a waste of life three 
times as large as that of London, according to the relative number of 
people in each city ! Were the mortality equally great in all other 
parts of the United States, rating the population at 25,000,000, the 
aggregate of deaths would swell up to the enormous amount of from 
seventy -fivedhousund to one hundred thousand cases annually ! 

If such data can be substantiated in respect to the mortality from 
Consumption in the United States alone — and who will dare attempt 
to refute these appalling facts ? — it may be fairly inferred that at 
least ninety millions of the people of the entire globe, die annually of 
Consumption, or are cut off, by one form or other of chest and throat 
diseases. Truly, statements like those are utterly bewildering and 
astounding. Ah! All the desolations that have ever occured from 
plagues, pestilence, famine, and war, in the sum total of their horrors, 
would not begin to compare with the million and millions of souls 
that have been swept from time to eternity by the unerring shafts of 
that insidious monster Consumption— literally, Death personified, and 
stalking abroad on his "pale horse" crushing and hurling down his 
victims on every hand in inconceivable myraids. 

Imagine for a moment, the extent of a grave-yard capable of con- 
taining the bodies of those who die of Consumption in a single year. 
, Imagine their graves stretched in a single line, and then calculate 
the miles of dead — human beings literally slaughtered, year by year 
in the Untied States alone, through the stings of the lancet, and the 
horrible poisons administered to the helpless sick, while stretched on 
their beds, or languishing in the quiet sacredness of their chambers, 
by a class of men called physicians — "Medical men' 7 groveling in 
their ignorance and stupidity, and sometimes wearing a Diploma en- 
titling them to kill and crucify ad libitum, without restraints of law, 
or fear of the vengence of the gallows. 

In view, then, of the numerous checks and repeated deceptions to 
which physicians are exposed in diagnosing the fearful malady of 
Consumption, the Author of this Book will doubtless be pardoned for 
saying, that it is high time for all physicians to leave the beaten track 
of their grandfathers, and follow some other which is less fallable. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 179 

The general lack of success in the use of ordinary means for diag- 
nosing tubercles, for instance, proves that those means are inade- 
quate to the end in view, and physicians should incontinently resort 
to neio modes, if they would henceforward be successful in the treat- 
ment of Consumption. In treating any disease, we should first be- 
come familiar with its character and pathology ; without such know- 
ledge the physician must necessarily grope in the dark, and, by con- 
sequence, virtually play the assassin, and cowardly murder his helpless 
victim, instead of mitigating his sufferings and proving a benefactor 
of the human family. 

Our success in the treatment of Pulmonary Affections, is conclu- 
sive evidence that our doctrine of Pathology and Curative agencies, 
are at once consistent with Physiological and natural laws, and the 
dictates of common sense. We accordingly, after many years of most 
rigid investigation into the nature of Consumption, and experiments 
in the herbal preparations for its mitigation and permanent cure in 
its most frightful forms, have at length succeeded in compounding 
medicines which may be regarded as perfect specifics for every form 
of thoracic disorders. The are composed of essences, juices, gums, 
resins, spices, etc., of a variety of rare plants, not yet introduced in- 
to the Materia Medica of any country, but which are used as cura- 
tive agents in many climes by the aboriginal inhabitants, with unde- 
viating success. All these ingredients have undergone the strictest 
chemical analysis, and are found to contain every element requisite 
for the healthful growth and recuperation of every tissue of the hu- 
man organism — nervous, osseus, muscular, etc. 

In fact, these remedies are the very best nervines ever discovered. 
They strenghten the nervous system in a wonderful manner, regu- 
lates the " nervous influence' 7 and distribute the vital or electric 
force to every part of the system. They correct any acidity of the 
mucous membrane, or alkalinity of the serous surfaces, and by re- 
storing the equilibrium or natural flow of these secretions in their 
proper organs, render more literally a galvanic battery, capable of 
enduring every possible hardship, and maintaining at the same time 
the most rubicund health and muscular power and elasticity. 

They act as a superior exhilerant. Are exceedingly soothing in 
their efforts upon the nervous structure ; quieting all kinds of men- 
tal or nervous excitement or irritation, yet gently stimulating the 



180 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



functions of every organ to a harmonious fulfillment of their normal 
or natural duties. 

They operate as a Ionic and soother in the most emphatic sense of 
the word. Their action on the lungs is exceedingly bland and grate- 
ful. They regulate the gastric secretions and promote a natural so- 
lution of the food into chyme, neutralizing the acidity of the chyle, 
sweetening the blood, and giving back the lily and the roses to the 
withered, blanched and sallow couutenences of the victims of this 
fearful complaint of the lungs and throat. They nourish the patient, 
who is too much prostrated to partake of ordinary food. They will 
supply the place of nutriment, and may be taken with benficial 
effect by the tenderest or most irritable of consumptives. 

They add phosphorous to the brain tissue. Supplying electric 
force to all the ganglionic centers, and these gives utility and 
strength and energy to every intellectual faculty. In short they are 
a general recuperator of the entire organism. They cover the 
bones with solid flesh, add iron to the blood ; act as a stimulenfc to 
the nerves, and render the muscles exceedingly tough, yet elastic and 
pliable. 

Any person thus afflicted, who will send to us a full description of 
their case, all the symptoms, how long the disease has existed, color 
of the skin and countenance, character of the expectorated matter, 
natural or acquired habits, habitual or herditary diseases, tempera- 
ment, other peculiarities of the mental and physical organism will be 
furnished with a complete course of medicines specifically adapted to 
the individual case. We are thus particular in understanding the 
condition of every patient, as no two cases are precisely alike ; in 
order to ensure successful treatment and to garantee a speedy and 
rapid cure, which we are able to do, in many instances of the most 
formidable character. 

On receipt of twenty dollars, these medicines, with full and ex- 
plicit directions for the use of each, in every particular case, will be 
forwarded, and a safe delivery of the medicines guaranted. Address 
Dr. A. G Levy & Co., New York City. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 181 



The Secret of Beauty. 

A METHOD OF BEAUTIFYING THE COMPLEXION. MAKING THE SKIN AS SOFT, 
AND AS ROSY AS A HEALTHY INFANT ? S, AND THE CURE OF EVERY CUTANE- 
OUS DISEASE, OR BLEMISH, EYER KNOWN OR HEARD OF. 

In making known, to the patrons of this book, my wonderful dis- 
covery for beautifying and rejuvenating the complexion, it may not 
be amiss to gratify the pardonable curiosity of those who may wish 
to know how, and in what manner, I became possessed of it. While 
making my tour of the continent of Europe, 1 stopped at Paris dur- 
ing the winter season, for the double purpose of familiarizing my- 
self with much that is useful in the arts and sciences of that city, and 
also that I might be a witness of the gayeties and follies of this me- 
tropolis of fashion, as the season was then at its height. According- 
ly, I rented apartments in the Rue Martin, choosing, while in Paris, 
to be among the Parisians more entirely, for the purpose of acquir- 
ing a fluency in the language, than if I had stopped at a hotel where 
English and Americans generally make it a point to put up. One 
evening, on returning home. I was informed by the landlady of the 
house, that she had a lady boarder who was dangerorsly ill of con- 
sumption, and would gratefully appreciate any benefit which I might 
render her. I at once proceeded to her apartment ; but a single 
glance was enough to convince me that all human aid would, in her 
case, prove unavailing. However, I administered remedies which 
tended to sooth her pathway to the tomb, attending her until she 
died, which event occurred some two weeks after. Before her de- 
cease, she expressed her gratitude to me in the warmest mannei, and 
placed in my hands some recipes, as the best means of testifying 
it. and also the accompanying statement of her first knowledge of their 
efficacy. 

" Thirty years ago I was a theatrical ballet dancer in my native 
city of Paris. Of course I danced under an assumed name, which, 
as it is withdrawn from the catalogue of artistes, I need not now re- 
peat. Suffice it to say, that I acquired a local reputation which for a 
while, gratified my ambition and afforded a sufficient vent for my en- 
thusiasm. I had been upon the stage but five years, when I became 



182 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



the friend of the great Ellsler. This friendship soon ripened into an 
intimacy which would never have been brought to a termination ex- 
cepting by a separation rendered necessary from the nature of our 
avocation. 

" I should tell you who are not theatrically instructed, that a dan- 
cer of Ellsier's rank seldom condescends to dress, in the theatre, or 
in a room used by any other person. When any inferior figurante is 
admitted to this privilege, the honor is considered great, and almost 
overwhelming. From certain domestic relations that sprang up be- 
tween the great Fanny and myself, it became necessary that we 
slioald occupy the same dressing-room while in practice of our pro- 
fessional calling. 

" I had often wondered how she contrived to impart such miracul- 
ous improvements to her personal appearance each evening prior to 
her going upon the stage. I had seen her pale and jaded, her coun- 
tenance heavily lined, and (at particular periods, about once a month) 
her eyes lustreless and sunken, with a ring, almost black, around 
them. An hour after going into the dressing-room and attiring her- 
self after the ordinary fashion, and in my presence, she would look 
like a different being. The corrugated, thick, sallow skin, would be 
no longer visible, and the eyes would sparkle, emitting a luster like 
a first-class diamond. I knew it was not the excitement of the hour, 
for Fanny was too old a stager to be led away by the tinsel • pomp 
and circumstance' of the side-scenes and green-room. And yet, I 
marvelled, what could it be ? She drank nothing, she ate nothing 
singular. She used, so far as I could see, nothing that I did not use. 

" At length a misfortune unravelled this mystery for me. One 
night we were dressing ourselves for ' Les Willis, 7 (known to the 
American play-goer as ' The Giselle.') I was the principal coryphee, 
and, in consequence of her not being any too well, was required to 
1 double' for her : that is, when she was to be sent rapidly across the 
stage in a frail iron car suspended upon wires, as if she were floating 
through the air, I was to be dressed exactly like her, and take her 
place. This, in theatrical parlance, is termed i doubling.' Our 
dresses were of the thinnest gauze, and were very ample and volum- 
inous. Just after the call-boy had warned us that the ballet was 
about to begin, my drapery was wafted, by a puff of wind that came 
in at the open window, to one of the gas-lights, and in an instant, I 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 183 



was enveloped in flames. I screamed and fainted, which was all that 
a woman could be expected to do under the circumstances. 

" When I recovered my sensibility, I saw the doctor of the theatre 
and Fanny anxiously bending over me. I knew I was burned, but 
could not tell where, for I felt no pain whatever. The doctor, used 
to such accidents, (for they are by no means rare in ballet theatres.) 
had applied a lotion which immediately destroyed all suffering, and 
allayed all irritatiou. As soon as I was sufficiently restored to stand 
he left us. 

" i Where, where am I injured? 7 1 inquired, with the deepest anx- 
iety. Ellsler took me to the full length mirror in the appartment. I 
gave it one glance, and then staggered as if stricken by a thunder- 
bolt to the sofa. One side of my face and neck, and the upper part 
of one of my arms, were crimsoned and blistering. I need not tell 
you, perhaps, that the beauty of the danseuse is her main stock in 
trade. Indeed, a professor of theatrical saltatorials would rather 
die than live disfigured. At that moment, thoughts of living to be 
abhorred by those who had flattered, caressed, and loved me, inflict- 
ed such exquisite pain, that I instantaneously thought upon commit- 
ting suicide. I was taken to my lodgings in an exhausted and des- 
pairing state, and another coryphee went upon the stage in my stead. 

" At midnight Fanny was at my bedside. I declared to her that I 
would put an end to my existence, rather than wander about the world 
scarred and loathsome. She merely laughed, bade me keep quiet, 
and bathed the wounds with an aromatic liquid, such as I had often 
seen her use to her own face, bosom and limbs, and had considered 
to be a common cosmetic. Her manner affected me so powerfully, 
that I became like a child in her hands, and soon relinquished my 
mad idea of seeking solace for my misfortune in the grave. In two 
weeks my wounds had healed, and not only was my skin scarless, but 
as beautiful as it had been when I was a petted child. My clear 
friend's cosmetic had done this. 

" Judge of my suprise, when I discovered that she had purchased 
the secret of making this woderful balm, this incomparable blessing, 
several years before, from an Italian perfumer and chemist, whom 
she had met at Genoa, and who had fallen in love with her, although 
he was seventy years of age. Even his silly passion would not tempt 
him to part with the recipe (which he averred was the result of thirty 
years' labor and experiment) without money! Her wonderful trans- 



184 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



formation from the appearance of lassitude and sickness to that of 
buoyant, uudefiled, and infantile health, was now accounted for. 

" At this time, Fanny being about to depart for St. Petersburg!), 
whither she had been summoned by desire of the Cz*r, imparted to 
me the secret of this marvelous Cosmetic Perfume, and Healing Bal- 
sam, which I have named -The Oriental Cream op Roses.' It is 
not only a beautifier, but one of the most powerful curatives 
for all diseases of the skin ever discovered. My improved looks 
secured me a husband, who was a chemist by profession, and whose 
services were in constant requisition by a large perfumery and cos- 
metic house. To him I imparted the secret, and together we laid plans 
for the purpose of extensively manufacturing this cosmetic 5 but soon 
after making arrangements with a house in Calcutta for a yearly sup- 
ply of the essential extract of oriental roses, wherewith to make the 
preparation or compound, my husband was taken ill of malignant 
fever, and died, leaving me penniless, without the necessary means 
to embark in a business which at first would require an outlay of 
capital. In your hands it may be the means of much good to human- 
ity,and also be a remuneration for the kindness bestowed on myself. 

" And now let me state what is more important than all. When I 
was burned, you will please remember that Fanny applied the pre- 
paration at once. I for a long time supposed that the timely appli- 
cation prevented scars, and I was right ; but it did not then strike 
me that after scars were made, the preparation would remove them. 
A dear iriend of mine had a little daughter who was exceedingly 
beautiful in form, and with a remarkably expressive and handsome 
countenance, but for a birth-mark that covered one-half her forehead. 
The mark seemed to rise above the level of the ordinary skin, and 
was of a deep blood-red color. When she was excited, this mark 
would turn almost black. One day it occurred to me to try what the 
* Oriental Cream of Roses, 7 would do if steadily and perseveringly 
applied to this disfiguring evidence of nature's strange freaks. No 
sooner was the resolve formed than I put it in practice. I bathed the 
mark regularly every morning, noon, and night, with the ' Oriental 
Cream of Roses,' rubbing it in with my hand for from fifteen minutes 
to half-an-hour, with perse verence and diligence. Under this treat- 
ment the birth-mark, after a very brief period, had entirely disappear- 
edl Scores of similar cases have since come under my personal 
observation. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 185 



"In the preparation of this cosmetic, great care must be exercised 
in procuring the genuine extract of oriental roses, as it can be rightly 
made with none other, the roses of our own and the English soil not 
possessing the chemical agencies necessary to produce the wonderful 
effects required. The arrangement with the Calcutta house still 
remains in force, and you have only to give your order, at will, to 
have it promptly and speedily filled. And now. doctor, I will close 
by hoping that in your hands it may be the means of much benefit to 
my sex. Felicia Dupree." 

From a perusal of the foregoing may be seen how valuable this 
cosmetic is. when righty prepared. A few words as to what the 
4i Oriental Cream of Roses" will do, and I have finished. It will, in 
four hours, so improve, reinvenate, and beautify the skin, that you 
would hardly recognize the person who used it as the one you knew 
before the application was made. The change it will work in your 
own countenance will cause you, at first, to doubt your own identity. 
Those who use it regularly will possess a skin as sound, unblemished, 
soft, and beautiful as that of a healthy infant. It not only obliterates 
tan, freckles, pimples, morphew, redness, humors, eruptions, and all 
similar foes to beauty and comfort, but it renders the complexion 
perfectly clear and brilliant, giving it a bloom, as well as a magnifi- 
cent lily shade •; softening it, making it pliable, free from dryness, 
scurf, etc. ; annihilating roughness, lines formed by care or sickness, 
and protecting it from the effects of cold winds, a humid atmosphere, 
and other atmosperical effects, detrimental to the complexion and 
cuticle. It also imparts brillancy to the eyes, as you will soon per- 
ceive after applying it. The instant it touches the skin it finds a passage 
through the pores, penetrating through the outer skin, the epidermis or 
second skin, and the lower or scarf skin, to the very flesh or fibre. It is 
this attribute, this penetrating power that makes it potent, not only 
as a beautifier, but as a healer and annihilator of sores, ulcers, scor- 
fulous affections of every character, (if outwardly manifested,) ring- 
worm, and all Cutaneous Diseases that can be mentioned. 

The deepest marks made by small-pox — marks of the oldest kind 
and most indelible character, as one would reasonably suppose — may 
be painlessly, pleasantly, and entirely removed by the " Oriental 
Cream of Roses." Rub it patiently into each mark or " pit," with 
the finger, and the skin will gradually assume its natural condition 



186 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



and appearance, and, after a comparatively short interval, every 
mark will disappear. 

In short, scars of every nature — no master how produced, nor how 
long they may have existed, or how deep and monstrous they may 
be — will as surely yield to this preparation (applied as I have direct- 
ed) as the snow will melt before the summer's sun. 

For chapped hands and arms nothing can be better than the "Orien- 
tal Cream of Roses." Indeed those who use it regularly, as they do 
soap and water, will never have a blemish or a disease upon any sur- 
face where it is customarily placed. This preparation will be sent 
to all parts of the United States, By express, at $2 per bottle. 

I would also state that the gratitude of my patient did not end 
here. The connexion of her husband with the large cosmetic and 
perfumery establishment before alluded to. Caused him to be the 
possesser of many famous recipes for the preparation of toilet arti- 
cles in use by the most noted beauties of the French court. These 
she also gave into my hands, and as the ingredients of the various 
articles could be procured only in Paris, I found it for my advantage 
to effect permanent arrangements for their preparation in Paris for 
my use in this country, of which I have the exclusive right of sale, 
and I accordingly receive per steamer from Havre, the following 
French preparations, the authenticity of which cannot be doubted, 
and the blessed utility of which is so speedily manifest that it is use- 
less to extol them. Among these are the following : — 

MAGIC ANNIHILATOR. 

FOR REMOVING SUPERFLUOUS HAIR. 

This is a powder invented by Laure, of Paris, and endorsed by the 
celebrated perfumer, Lubin. All the beauties of France make free 
use of it. It removes superfluous hair with the utmost speed, without 
any approach to pain, and in such a manner that no one would dream 
that hair had ever grown where it has been applied. It leaves the 
skin as white as alabaster, and as soft as velvet By trying it upon the 
arm, you will readily ascertain that it is a beautiful, a harmless, and 
yet a most powerful and useful compilation. Sent anywhere, postage 
paid, at one dollar a package. 



MEDICAL GUIDE 18 1 

ARABIAN BREATH PURIFIER, 

FOR THE TEETH. 

This grand article has been used in France for a quarter of a cen 
tury. It is in the form of a tooth powder. The ingredients, I believe* 
are fifteen in number. This powder not only cleanses the teeth, mak- 
ing them glisten like pearls, obliterating every atom of tartar, killing 
the parasites, and preventing them from rotting, but it sweetens the 
breath. The foulest breath will become as an infant's after this pow- 
der has been used a week. This comes to me direct from Paris — it is 
packed there to my order, and unpacked for the first time afterwards 
in my own house, and by my own hands. Its cost, after going through 
the custom house, is eighty-seven cents per box. I will send it, free 
of postage, to any address, upon the receipt of one dollar. 

NATURE'S POETRY, FOR THE HAIR. 

Nature's Poetry is the English name of a famous French prepara- 
tion for restoring hair to its natural color, and making it grow upon 
the bald places. It is called " Nature's Poetry," because it is ex- 
clusively made of extracts from flowers— flowers which are exclu- 
sively grown in Turkey. Its chemical properties are magical and 
wonderful. It will restore the grayest hair to the color it bore be- 
fore age or sickness destroyed its beauty and its vigor. The French 
preparations for the hair are vilely imitated in this country, and the 
imitations are most destructive, not only to the hair, but to the skin, 
and (if much used) to the general health. Nature's Poetry acts as a 
dye, an invigorator, a restorative, and a beautifyer generally. It 
also curls the hair beautifully, and supplies the place of the best po- 
made. Although it acts as a dye, it must not be classed as one. It is 
made with great care by the well-known Duchesne, of Paris, and has 
been highly recommended by Alexander Dumas, Balzac, Eugene 
Sue. Paul de Knock, and other notabilities of France. I warrant it 
to be the only good and innocent preparation for the hair to be ob- 
tained on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Sent anywhere upon the 
receipt of two dollars. 

OLYMPIAN AROMA! 

AN UNEQUALLED PERFUME. 

This is one of the most wonderful perfumes ever invented. It is 



188 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



used in all parts of the continental Europe as a substitute for Cologne, 
and many people prefer it to the genuine eau, not a drop of which 
can be obtained, at any price, in America. I hive only to say that 
the Olympian Aroma is quite unique as a perfume — that it is far more 
delightful than any that can be purchased here, and that I get it 
without adulteration. It reaches me, through the customs, in good 
condition, No lady's boudoir should be without it. Price one dol- 
lar per bottle. A bottle will last for years, for it is too potent to be 
used lavishly. 

Either of these beautifying preparations will be sent to any address 
upon receipt of the annexed price. I will send the five preparations 
in one package for $5, to any part of this country. I have received 
letters from all parts of the United States in which the writers com- 
plain of having been swindled by preparations advertised as French 
cosmetics, and which were not genuine. Beware of them. See that 
you get the right address, and send only for mine. Dr. A. G. Levy 
& Co., New York City. 

Female Weaknesses, etc. 

Diseases op Menstruation. — Though the general period of the com- 
mencement of menstruation is in this climate about fourteen years 
of age ; it may nevertheless, from particular circumstances, and in 
certain constitutions, not make its appearance for some time after 
th it period. Provided the health does not suffer, there is in reality 
no occasion for alarm or anxiety, although its occurrence should be 
later by a year or two in one girl than another ; but it is difficult to 
persuade women themselves of this fact ; and they are apt to ascribe 
every illness or uneasy feeling which girls may happen to experi- 
ence towards the period of puberty, to the non-appearance of this 
discharge. It sometimes indeed happens, that very great sickness 
and loss of health do occur in young women who are long of men- 
struating ; and in the article green sickness, we shall detail the symp- 
toms and treatment of persons in that situation. The non-appear- 
ance of the menses also gives rise occasionally to cough and various 
other sympathetic affections; so that both the patient herself and her 
friends and medical attendants, are always very glad when the womb 
assumes a healthy action ; and they also very properly, look for- 
ward to the establishment of menstruation, as affording hope of relief 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 189 



from many ailment that afflict females about the age at which it gen- 
erally commences. Every means, therefore, that is consistent with 
prudence and propriety, ought to be used to bring on healthy men- 
struation, when it seems too long delayed. Of these, the best are 
such as contribute to the general health and vigor of the system, 
such as a mild nourishing diet ; the tepid or warm bath ; gentle ex- 
ercise, either on horseback, or on foot, etc, The bowels are to be 
particularly attended to ; and purgatives are sometimes, by sympa- 
thy, very effectual in bringing the uretus into action ; of these, none 
are more beneficial than aloes, and the various pills of which aloes 
forms a principal ingredient. Symptoms must be paliated as they 
arise. The cough is to be treated, and we are to discriminate as accur- 
ately as we can between the cough depending upon simple irritation, 
to which young females are particularly liabfe, and that which indi- 
cates the approach of consumption ; and take our measure accord- 
ingly, so as not to neglect the incipient stage of a most serious dis- 
ease, or to give too much importance to a state of things, which if 
properly managed, is attended with very little danger. 

When the menses do begin, it may be a year or two before they go 
on in a proper manner ; the interval may be two, three or four 
months, the quantity variable ; and this, for some time, may comport 
with good health, and at last the regular monthly period may be es- 
tablished. Matrons should pay particular attention to the conduct 
and management of their yonng friends at this period. Any impro- 
priety in diet, or regimen, which at another time, might have passed 
with impunity, will now be productive of serious consequences, and 
may lay the foundation ot ill health, and give a shock to the constitu- 
tion from which it will not recover. Wet feet are to be considered as 
particularly dangerous ; sometimes they check the discharge alto- 
gether, sometimes they give rise to a copious and debilitating flow. 

Suppression of the Menses. — Independent of pregnancy, the 
menses may be checked or suppressed after their first establishment, 
by various causes. The most frequent causes of this obstruction, are 
cold, passions of the mind, or diseases. We are to endeavor to bring 
the discharge back by remedies adapted to the particular circum- 
stances of each case ; varying our plan according to circumstances, 
and using means more especially about the time when we may expect 
the efforts of nature to co-operate with our endeavors. The effects 
produced by suppression on the constitution are various ; in many 



190 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



cases it may give rise to fullness of blood ; and relief is then only to 
be obtained by bleeding, low diet, bathing the feet in warm, water 
and moderate doses of Sulphate of Magnesia, or Epsom Salts. When 
accompanied with great debility, we must follow the same plan in ob 
* struction, as we do in the non-appearance of the menses. 

Immoderate flow of the Menses. — A too copious discharge of 
blood from the womb, is a frequent complaint. It may continue for 
a much greater number of days than it ought to do, or its quantity 
may be excessive. This is a state of mensturation very difficult to 
cure, and productive of very debilitating effects on the body. The 
countenance of the woman becomes pale and haggard ; there is a 
dark circle around the eyes, an aversion to motion, and great suscep- 
tibility to fatigue on slight exertion. The stomach is out of order, 
the bowels are slow, the lymphatic system is torpid, and symptoms 
of threatening dropsy appear. We are to order the patient to observe 
the utmost quietness ; to keep in the horizontal posture ; we must 
give gentle laxatives, in order to prevent all straining at stool ; and 
direct some mild astrigent medicine. The diet should be extremely 
light and spare ;. the drinks should be toast-water, barley-water, or 
lemonade, taken cold ; and the patient must remain at perfect rest, 
in a recumbant posture, with the hips considerably elevated. When 
one period of too copious discharge is got over, our care should be 
to prevent the next from being equally profuse. This is to be done 
by avoiding fatigue in the interval, by moderation in diet, by avoid- 
ing costiveness, by losing a little blood from the arm if there be too 
great fullness, or inflamatory tendency in the system, and by a pru- 
dent use of sulphuric acid, and other astringents, as alum whey. A 
drachm of alum will curdle a pint of milk ; a few ounces of the whey 
sweetened, to render it palatable, may be taken as often as the 
stomach will bear it. 

Difficult and Painful Menstruation. — A state of menstruation 
different from the former, consist in a very difficult and painful per- 
formance of that function. It is to be treated by fomentations to the 
belly, back, and lions ; by giving opiates during the severity of the 
pain, by avoiding cold ; by giving medicines which promote perspi- 
ration, and encouraging their operation, by giving diluent drinks, 
and keeping in bed. 

In some cases instead of a fluid discharge every month, there is 
formed a membranous substance, which is expelled with great pain, 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 191 



and which, when carelessly looked at, has the appearance of an abor- 
tion. It is of great consequence for practitioners to know this, as an 
innocent and virtuous person might be suspected unjustly. When 
the uterus has put on this irregular action, it is believed that the 
woman cannot conceive ; but there are some cases that show this not 
to hold true universally. Medicines are to be given to palliate pain, 
debility, costiveness, or any other urgent symptoms. 

According to our experience, painful menstruation occurs more 
commonly either in very robust, athletic females, when it is best re- 
medied by bleeding at the period of its occurrence, by a moderate, 
well regulated diet in the intervals, and the occasional use of saline 
purgatives 5 or it occurs, on the contrary, in those who lead indolent 
and luxurious lives, when the proper remedies will be regular active 
exercise in the open air, the warm bath, frictions of the surface, etc. 

Cessation op the Menses. — The time of life at which this discharge 
ceases, differs in different women, but it usually does so between the 
age of forty-two and forty-six. The symptoms which occur at the 
period of cessation, also vary much j in some, the discharge stops at 
once, without any disorder of the constitution ; in others, it returns 
after uncertain and irregular intervals, and in variable quantity, for 
months or years, before it finally stops. Though many women, at 
this period, have a great variety of ailments, these are rather to be 
considered as indications of a change occurrring in the constitution, 
than as depending altogether on the diminution or absence of the dis- 
charge. They who have not enjoyed good health, they who have not 
borne children, or who have been weakened by frequent miscarriages, 
generally suffer most at this period of life. To others, again, who, 
during that part of their lives, when menstruation went on regularly, 
had much pain, or were troubled with nervous disorders, the cessa- 
tion of the discharge is^an era which brings them better health than 
they ever enjoyed before. If no bad symptom occur at this time, 
there is no call for any interference by regimen, by evacuations, or in 
any other way ; but if there be symptoms of fullness, or tendency to 
feverish complaints ; if there be headache, flushings of the face, or of 
the palms of the hands, with restlessness at night, pains in the lions 
or belly, or eruptions on different parts of the body ; such fullness 
must be brought down by spare living, proper exercise, laxative 
medicines, and occasional blood-letting, taking care not to create a 
habit of using this last evacuation. 



192 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



Green Sickness. — Clilorosis, or green sickness, is a complaint which 
occurs chiefly in girls about the age of fourteen years, and is character- 
ized by a pale, blanched complexion, languor, listlessness, depraved 
appetite and indigestion, and the non-appearance of the monthly dis- 
charge. It is called green sickness, from the pale, livid, and greenish 
cast of the skin, so commonly present. 

The symptoms consist chiefly in a general sense of oppression, lan- 
gour. and indigestion. The langonr extends over the whole system, 
and affects the mind as well as the body ; and hence, while the ap- 
petite is feeble and capricious, and shows a desire for the most un- 
accountable and innutrient substances, as lime, chalk, etc., the mind 
is capricious and variable, often pleased with trifles, and incapable 
of fixing on any serious pursuit. The heat of the skin is diffused ir- 
regularly, and is almost below the point of health ; there is, con- 
sequently, great general inactivity of the circulation, and particularly 
in the small vessels and extreme parts of the body. The pulse is 
quick, but low. the breathing hurried or laborious, the sleep disturb- 
ed, the face cold, the nostrils dry, the bowels irregular or confined, 
and the urine colorless. There is also, sometimes, an irritable and 
distressing cough ; and the patient is thought to be on the verge of 
consumption, or perhaps to be running rapidly through its stages. 
Consumption, however, does not commonly follow, nor is the disease 
found fatal, although it should continue, as it has done notunfrequent- 
ly, for some years. 

The principal cause of chlorosis is indigestion occurring at the age 
of puberty, combined with a want of energy in the minute vessels of 
the womb, that prevents them from fulfilling their office. Constitu- 
tional weaknesses and relaxation frequently disposed to green sick- 
ness ; and whatever enervates the general habit, or the stomach in 
particular, such as indulgence in heated rooms and late hours, long 
residence in crowded cities, want of exercise, impure air. a luxurious 
mode of life, stimulating, or innutricious diet, and constipation, may 
be ranked among its causes. 

The object of treatment in this disease is. to restore the functions 
of the stomach, bowels, skin, and other organs to their healthy condi- 
tion, by daily active exercise, pure air, a well-regulated diet, and 
cheerful society, aided by the warm bath, frictions on the surface, 
alteratives and apperients. 

The patient should take daily exercise in the open air particularly 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 193 



on horseback, resorting to change of air and scene as often as circum- 
stances will permit. She should make use of light nutritive food of 
easy digestion, and abandon the use of tea, coffee, and all stimulating 
drinks. To rise from bed and to retire to rest at an early hour, 
morning and evening, are all important measures in this disease. In 
fact, the rules to be observed with respect to diet and regimen, are 
precisely the same, as those which are laid down under dyspepsia. A 
warm bath twice or thrice a week, and active friction twice a day, 
with a flesh-brush, over the region of the stomach and bowels, are on 
no account to be neglected. The friction should be performed by the 
patient herself, at least night and morning* for fifteen minutes each 
time. 

When the acidity of the stomach is very distressing to the patient, 
a teaspoonful of calcined magnesia, or a mixture of equal parts of 
magnesia and rhubarb, may be taken. 

Electricity, in the form of sparks drawn from the lower belly, or 
of slight shocks passed through it, may be resorted to in obstinate 
cases, and will frequently be attended with advantage. 

It now and then happens, that retention of the menses occurs in 
florid, full-bosomed girls, who have no mean share of general vigor, 
in which case the pulse is full and tense, and the pains in the head 
and loins very severe. The ordinary cause of the retention in these 
cases, is exposure to cold at the period of the menstrual discharge ; 
and the plethoric condition of the patient will bear and require at the 
commencement the use of the lancet, and saline purgatives. The 
warm bath should also be steadily used with a plain, light diet, and 
regular exercise. 

Flour Albcs, or Whites. — This complaint consists in a discharge 
of a yellowish, white or greenish fluid, from the womb and its passage. 
In the mildest cases, the discharge is mostly of a whitish color, some- 
times almost colorless, small in quantity, and unaccompanied with 
any soreness or uneasiness in the parts ; but in the most aggravated 
forms, it is yellow, greenish, or dark-colored, thin, sometimes very 
acrid, and highly offensive, and occasional itching, smarting, and other 
local symptoms of a very distressing nature. In most cases, there is 
pain and weakness in the back, and a sense of general languor ; and 
when the disease is severe, and of long standing, it is generally as- 
sociated with an unhealthy countenance, loss of appetite, disordered 
stomach, general debility, and a dry, hot skin. 
13 



194 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

It occurs most frequently in women of delicate constitutions, or in 
those whose health has been greatly impaired by profuse evacuations, 
improper diet, sedentary living, grief, imtemperance, or other causes 
of exhaustion. It sometimes, however, arises chiefly from injuries 
inflicted upon the parts themselves, in consequence of difficult labors, 
frequent miscarriages, a dissolute life, or other causes. Women of 
all ages are subject to it. This disease I can easily cure, without in- 
convenience to the patient. 

Falling down of the Womb. — The prolapsus or falling down of 
the womb, takes place in various degrees. The slightest degree, or 
first stage, has been called a relaxation ; greater degree, a prolap- 
sus ; and the protrusion from the external parts, a procedentia. It is 
necessary to attend carefully to this disease, to ascertain its exis- 
tence ; as it may, if neglected, occasion bad health, and many uneasy 
sensations. The symptoms, at first, are ambiguous, and may proceed 
from other causes. The woman feels a weight and uneasiness about 
the lower part of the abdomen, with an irritation about the urethra 
and the bladder ; and sometimes a tenderness in the course of the 
former. A dull, dragging pain, is felt in the groins, and this is in- 
creased by walking, but goes off' after resting, or lying in bed. Pains 
are also felt in the thighs, and very frequently in back aches. 

In the greatest degree, or procedentia, the uterus is forced alto- 
gether out of the body, inverting completely the vagina, and form- 
ing a large tumour betwixt the thighs. The procedentia is attended 
with the usual symptoms of prolapsus, and also with a difficulty in 
voiding the urine, tenesmus, and pain in the tumour. If the womb 
be long or frequently down, the skin of the vagina becomes hard, 
like the common integument. Sometirnes the tumour inflames, and 
indurates ; and then ulceration, or sloughing, takes place. Proced- 
entia of the womb may occur in consequence of neglecting the first 
stage of the disease, and the uterus is forced externally, with bear- 
ing-down pains : or it may take place all at once, in consequence of 
exertion, or getting up too soon after delivery. It may also occur 
during pregnancy, and even during parturition. Sometimes it is 
complicated with stone in the bladder, or with polypus in the uterus. 

Frequent parturition, the whites, and whatever tends to weaken or 
relax the parts,*may occasion prolapsus. Sometimes a fall brings it 
on. When symptoms indicating prolapsus manifest themselves, we 
ought to examine the state of the womb. If it be found consider- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 195 



ably lower down than it ought to be, then we must have recourse to 
mechanical means for keeping it up. A piece of sponge introduced 
into the vagina, will have this effect, or we may use a pessary. Pes- 
saries are made of wood, cork, or gum-elastic, of different shapes, 
some oval, some flat and circular, some like spindles, or the figure of 
eight, others globular. A bag of elastic gum, stuffed with hair, often 
makes a convenient pessary. Whatever be employed, it ought to be 
taken frequently out and cleansed and, at the same time, astringent 
injections may be thrown into the vagina. 

If the procedentia be large, and have been of long duration, the 
reduction of the uterus may. disorder the contents of the abdomen, 
producing both pain and sickness. In this case, we must enjoin 
strict rest in horizontal posture. The belly should be fomented, and 
an anodyne administered. Sometimes it is necessary to take away a 
little blood ; and we must always attend to the state of the bladder, 
so as to prevent an accumulation of urine. When the symptoms are 
abated, a pessary must be introduced, and the woman may rise. 

If the tumour, from having been much irritated, or long protrud- 
ed, be large, hard, inflamed, and perhaps ulcerated, it will be impos- 
sible to reduce it, until the swelling and inflamation are abated, by a 
recumbent posture, fomentations, cooling applications, laxatives, and 
perhaps, even blood-letting. After some days, we may attempt the 
reduction, and will find it useful previously to empty the bladder. 
The reduction, in general, causes for a time, uneasiness in the abdo- 
men. If the womb cannot be reduced, and is much diseased, it has 
been proposed to extirpate the tumour. This has been done, it is 
true, with success, but it is extremely dangerous ; for the bladder is 
apt to be tied by the ligature, which is put round the part ; and the 
intestines fall down above the uterus into the sac, formed by the in- 
verted vagina, they also are apt to be cut or constricted. 

If prolapsus be threatened, or has taken place after delivery, in 
consequence, for instance, of getting up too soon, we must replace 
the womb, and confine the woman to a horizontal posture, till it have 
regained its proper size and weight ; and this diminution may be as- 
sisted, if dilatory, by gentle laxatives. 

Inversion of the Womb. — Inversion of the womb implies that the 
inside is turned out, and in this manner it has passed down into the 
vagina. It may take place in different degrees. When complete, it 
protrudes out of the vagina, and exactly resembles the uterus after 



196 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



delivery, only the mouth is turned upwards, in place of downwards. 
When it is partial, the tumour is retained within the vagina, and the 
fundus only protrudes to a certain degree, forming a firm substance, 
something like a child's head. "When the womb is inverted, the wo- 
man feels great pain, generally accompanied with a bearing-down 
effort, by which a partial inversion is sometimes rendered complete. 
The pain is obstinate and severe, the woman feels weak, her coun- 
tenance pale, pulse feeble, and often impreceptible, a discharge of 
blood very generally attends the accident, and often is most profuse. 
But it is worthy of notice, that complete inversion sometimes is not 
accompanied with loss of blood, whilst a very partial inversion may 
be attended with a fatal discharge. Fainting and convulsions, are 
not unfrequent attendants. 

Inversion may terminate in different ways. It may prove rapidly 
fatal by the loss of blood ; or it may excite fatal syncope, or con- 
vulsions ; or it may operate more slowly, by inducing inflamation or 
distension of the bladder ; or, after severe pains and expulsive ef- 
forts, the patient may get the better of the immediate injury, the 
womb may diminish to its natural size, by slow degrees, and gives 
little inconvenience ; or it may discharge fetid matter, and gives rise 
to frequent debilitating discharges of blood ; or hectic comes on, and 
the patient sinks in a miserable manner. 

If the inversion be discovered early, the womb may be replaced. 
If it have protruded out of the vagina, it is, first of all, to be return- 
ed within it ; if it have not. we proceed directly to endeavor to re- 
turn it, by cautiously grasping the tumour in the hand, and pushing 
it upwards. If we push directly, without compressing the tumour, 
we sometimes bring on violent bearing-down pains. These are oc- 
casionally attended with an increase or renewal of the flooding. If 
we succeed, we should carry the hand into the womb, and keep it 
there for some time, to excite its contraction. 

If the inversion has not been discovered early, it is more difficult, 
nay, sometimes impossible to reduce it. owing chiefly to contraction 
of its orifice. In such cases, it is not prudent to make very violent 
efforts, as these may excite convulsions. We must in every instance 
alleviate urgent symptoms, such as fainting, retention of urine, or in- 
flamation, by suitable means. 

When the womb can not be replaced, we should at least return it 
into the vagina. We must palliate symptoms, apply gentle astrin- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



197 



pent lotions, keep the patent easy and quiet, attend to the state of 
the bladder, support the strength, allay iritation by opiates, and the 
troublesome bearing down by a pioper pessary. If inflamation come 
on, we must prescribe blood-letting, laxatives, etc. In this way, the 
womb is enabled by degrees to contract to its natural size, and the 
woman menstruates as usual, but generally her health is delicate. 

Polypi in the Womb. — Polypi in the womb occur of various sizes 
and consistency ; they are sometimes broad and flat at their base, 
sometimes they have a narrow neck. They occasion a discharge of 
blood at times ; but when small, they are not productive of much in- 
convenience. But if they become large, they give rise to symptoms, 
both troublesome and dangerous. There is violent bearing-down 
pain, discharges of blood, or of fetid dark-colored matter from the 
vagina, pain or difficulty of making water, irritation of the rec'um, 
and a frequent desire to go to stool. When very large, the polypus 
hangs out from the passage. If the disease be not relieved, the pains 
become more violent, the constitution is affected, and the continual 
discharge greatly weakens the patient. 

As the patient themselves can not distinguish tumours from 
other diseases producing similiar symptoms, their existence must be 
ascertained by the examination of a practitioner ; and their lemoval 
effected by a surgical operation, either by the knife by ligature, per- 
formed by a surgeon well acquainted with the structure and connex- 
ions of the parts. No internal remedies will do any good till the 
tumour is removed. When this is accomplished, the general health 
is to be improved by proper diet and tonic medicines. 

Inflamation of the womb appears to be a very common affection, 
and though frequently productive of very distressing consequences, 
is often misunderstood, and consequently mismanaged. This affec- 
tion is frequently the result of difficult labors, but often arises from 
excess in other indulgences— sometimes from rheumatic and gouty 
irritation, a translat'on of erysipelas, or obstructions in monthly 
evacuations. This inflamation sometimes occurs in a periodical man- 
ner particularly when it arises from a translation of erysipelas, and 
females who do not nurse their own children are much more subject 
to this disease ; chronic inflamation sometimes affects the whole 
body of the womb, but much more frequently it is seated in the neck 
or mouth of this organ. Many females afflicted in this way either 
mistake their complaint or conceal it, or from the slightness of their 



198 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



Bufferings neglect it, until serious chronic disease occurs and the con- 
sequences are often disastrous. Some experience only a sense of 
heat, with slight soreness in the parts, other complain of dull or la- . 
cerating pains in the womb, at intervals better, and at other times 
worse. In some cases a sense of weight is felt as if the womb had 
fallen, with pains in the upper part of the vagina, in almost all there 
is a discharge of some kind — often Leucorrhoea or Whites, which is 
more abundant when the inflamation is aggravated. Those affected 
in this way are apt to experience much pain in the upper part of the 
vagina, during conjugal embrace, and sometimes the mouth of the 
womb is so tender as to cause extreme suffering — one side of the 
womb being more swollen than the other, renders it very tender ; so 
great is the sensibility of this part in some, that they experience 
severe suffering from the slightest touch. In general the mouth of 
the womb is turned from its natural position to one side. If the dis- 
ease has been of long standing, the swelling of the neck of the womb 
is so great as to form a large lump in the vagina ; more or less pain 
in the back and loins occurs in nearly all cases, and the stomach 
usually sympathizes with the womb, so as to give rise to a train of very 
harassing^ dyspeptic and nervous symptoms. In some cases the inflama- 
tion continues for some time without any serious structural disorder 
of the womb, but in many cases the neck of the organ gradually en- 
larges, becomes indurated or scirrhous, and finally terminates in ul- 
ceration, cancer or death, and many cases that are usually regarded as 
simple Whites, are connected ivith chronic inflamation of the womb, which 
is about three or four inches up in the vagina in the healthy state, 
but not so high up in the diseased state. The existence of inflama- 
tion and swelling of this part, may be suspected when the lady has 
discharge accompanied with b"at, weight, soreness, or pain in the 
upper part of the vagina. 

A remedy for these painful diseases has long been a desideratum 
with the medical world, and that remedy has at last been found by 
great research. These diseases can now be radically cured — not by 
trusses, supporters, braces, pessaries, &c, upon which thousands of 
dollars have been expended in vain — but by a harmless compound, 
which the patient can apply herself without the least inconvenience ; 
(and this is certainly important to a sensitive female.) 

This remedy will act almost like magic upon being applied to the 
inflamed or tender portions, and will remove entirely without a single 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 199 



failure, both the pain and inflamation in from twenty-four to forty- 
eight hours, and in a very short time cure the leucorrhoea and pro- 
lapsus, if used as instructed on labels. The number of ladies who 
have been cured by this great discovery, are too numerous to men- 
tion, and the subject is of course too delicate to request certificates. 

The soothing, prompt and pleasant effect upon the whole nervous 
system as well as upon the parts affected produced even after the first 
application is truly miraculous, and it is astonishing to witness the 
great gratitude and indebtedness expressed by so many ladies for their 
deliverance from such annoyances ; and I can assure all females, who 
may perchance read these lines, that if they suffer any longer with 
womb diseases, or anything of the kind, that it is their own fault, as 
they have a chance to procure the only remedy actually worth using, 
and one I have proved satisfactorily in a long and studious practice 
among them. 

I would further observe, that it is utterly impossible to cure those 
diseases by internal or constitutional treatment ; it has been tried 
long enough ; it has baffled the skill and ingenuity of the ablest 
practitioners, and the practice has and ever will be abortive ; the 
treatment must be local to be scientific — upon the same principle 
that local application to an inflamed eye for instance will remove the 
disease almost immediately — much sooner and much more effectually, 
and with more comfort to the patient, than to be physiced until the 
whole nervous system is destroyed. 

Those diseases incident to all classes of the weaker and better sex, 
have now, under Providence a conqueror. This new remedy acts in 
the most soothing manner (as I before mentioned), upon the worn out 
nervous system — generally as well as locally ; will allay the inflama- 
tion like magic — thereby inducing the lateral ligaments which support 
the womb to contract, bringing the organ up to its healthy position — 
curing all discharges — all of those distressing complaints in the train 
of Prolapsus Uteri, such as leucorrhoea or whites, tenderness, pain in 
the back, hips, a weighty or bearing down sensation, so often com- 
plained of— again, bringing nature completely in her proper channels, 
allowing the lady once more to stand straight or erect, as in her for- 
mer health. 

On the receipt of ten dollars, with a description of symptoms of 
your case, I will send by Express, or otherwise as directed, a Com- 
plete Course of Medicines, with full directions for their application. 



200 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



My correspondence is perfectly sacred, and therefore no lady need 
have any hesitation in addressing me on any and every point relat- 
ing to their case. I positively guarantee that the above Course of 
Medicine will effect a Complete Cure. Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & 
Co., New York City. 



Miscellaneous and Domestic Receipts. 

To Prepare the Leaden Tree. — Put half an ounce of the super- 
acetate of lead, in powder, into a clear glass globe, or wine decanter, 
filled to the bottom of the neck with distilled water and 10 drops of 
nitric acid, and shake the mixture well. Prepare a rod of zinc, with 
a hammer and file, so that it may be a quarter of an inch thick and 
one inch long. At the same time, form notches in each side for a 
thread, by which it is to be suspended, and tie the thread so that 
the knot shall be uppermost when the metal hangs quite perpendicu- 
lar. When it is tied, pass the two ends of the thread through a per- 
foration in the cork, and let them be again tied over a small splinter 
of wood, which may pass between them and the cork. When the 
string is tied, let the length between the cork and the zinc be 
such that the precipitant (the zinc) may be at equal distances from 
the sides, bottom and top of the vessel, when immersed in it. When 
all things are thus prepared, place the vessel in a place where it may 
not be disturbed, and introduce the zinc, at the same time putting in 
the cork. The metal will very soon be covered with the lead which 
it precipitates from the solution, and this will continue to take place 
until the whole be precipitated upon the zinc, which will assume the 
form of a tree or bush whose leaves and branches are laminal, or 
plates of a metallic lustre. 

The Silver Tree. — Pour (instead of the lead) 4 drachms of nitrate 
of silver, dissolved in a pound or more of distilled water, and lay the 
vessel on the chimney-piece, or wherever it cannot be disturbed. 
Next, pour in 4 drachms of mercury. In a short time the silver will 
be precipitated in the most beautiful arborescent form, resembling 
real vegetation. This has been generally termed the Arbor Diarwe. 

The Tin Tree.— Put in 3 drachms of muriate of tin, adding 10 drops 
of nitric acid, and shake the vessel until the salt be completely dis- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 201 

solved. Replace the zinc (which must be cleared from the effects of 
the former experiment) as before, and set the whole aside to precipi- 
tate without disturbance. In a few hours the tree will be lustrous, 
and laminw will branch forth, produced from a galvanic action of the 
metals and the water. 

To Harden a Razor or Penknife. — Set the blade in a vessel of 
boiling mutton fat, leave it simmering for 12 hours on the stove ; then 
leave it all night to cool in the fat ; bone may then be cut with im- 
punity. 

To Make Liquid Glue. — Dissolve shellac in alcohol, to keep in 
solution. 

To Make Liquid Blacking. — Take of vinegar (No. 18) 1 quart ; 
ivory black and treacle each 6 ounces ; vitriolic acid and spermaceti 
1J ounces. 

To Prepare Water-Proof Composition. — Take 3 ounces of sper- 
maceti ; melt it in a pipkin over a slow fire ; add 6 drachms of India 
rubber, cut in slices, and these will dissolve. Add seriatim of tallow, 
8 ounces ; hog's lard, 2 ounces ; amber varnish, 4 ounces. Mix, and 
it will be fit for use immediately. Give two or three coats with a 
common blacking brush, and a fine polish is the result. 

To Make Black Japan. — Take of boiled oil 1 gallon, umber 8 
ounces, asphaltum 3 ounces, oil of turpentine as much as will reduce 
it to the required thinness. 

To Brown Gun-Barrels. — Rub the barrel over with aquafortis, or 
spirit of salt, diluted with water ; lay it by for a week, till a com- 
plete coat of oil is formed ; apply a little oil, and, after rubbing the 
surface dry, polish with a hard brush and a little beeswax. 

The Famous Liquid Japan Blacking: 

Ivory black 3 ounces, 

Coarse sugar, 

Muriatic acid, ana 1 drachm, 

Yinegar , 1 pound, 

One tablesnoonful of sweet oil and lemon acid. Mix the ivory black 
and sweet oil together first ; then the lemon and sugar with a little 
vinegar to qualify the blacking ; lastly, add the sulphuric and muri- 
atic acids and mix all together. 

Colored Composition for Rendering Linen and Cloth Impene- 
trable to Water. — Commence by washing the stuff with hot water ,* 
then dry and rub it between the hands until such time as it becomes 



202 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



perfectly supple ; afterwards spread it out by drawing it into a frame, 
and give it, with the aid of a brush, a first coat, composed of a mixture 
of 8 quarts of boiling linseed oil, 15 grammes of calcined amber and 
acetate of lead (of each 7£ grammes), to which add 90 grammes of 
lampblack. For the second coat use the same ingredients as above, 
except the calx of lead. This coat will dry in a few hours, according 
to the season ; afterwards take a dry plasterer's brush and rub the 
stuff thoroughly with it, when the hair, by this operation, will be- 
come smooth. The third and last coat will give a perfect and durable 
jet black. Or, take 12 quarts of boiling linseed oil, 30 grammes of 
amber, 15 grammes of acetate of lead, 7J sulphate of zinc, 13 grammes 
Prussian blue, and 7} verdigris. Mix them very fine with a little oil, 
and add 120 grammes of lampblack. 

To Make a Furniture Polish. — Take linseed oil. put it into a 
glazed pipkin, with as much alkanet root as it will cover ; let it boil 
gently, and it will become of a strong red color ; when cool, it will 
be fit for use. 

To Produce a Liquid for Painting on Glass, for Magic Lan- 
terns.— Dissolve resin in oil of turpentine, over a slow fire : it will 
remain in solution. Mix a small portion of this with any kind of cake 
(water) color, and trace each out-line in its proper hue. 

To Preserve Steel. — Imbed the articles in a bed of quick lime 
and sweet oil, and inclose them in carpeting, etc., or melt caoutchouc 
in a close vessel ; mix some oil of turpentine with it, and give the 
steel a thin coating of this mixture. 

A Powder for Turning Water into Vinegar. — Wash well half a 
pound of white tartar with warm water ; then dry it and pulverize 
as fine as possible ; soak that powder with good sharp vinegar, and 
dry it before the fire or in the sun ; re-soak it as before with vinegar, 
and dry it as above, repeating this operation a dozen times. By 
these means, a very good and sharp powder is prepared, which turns 
water instantly into vinegar. 

To Extract the Essential Oil from any Flower. — Take any 
flower you like, which stratify with common salt, in a clean glazed 
pot ; when filled to the top, cover it well and carry it to the cellar ; 
forty days afterwards, put a crape over a pan, and empty the whole 
to strain the essence from the flowers by pressure. Bottle that es- 
sence, and expose it for four or five weeks in the sun and dew of the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 203 



evening to purify. One single drop of the essence is enough to scent 
a whole quart of water. 

To Make Mutton Suet Candle like Wax. — Throw quick lime on 
melted mutton suet ; the lime will fall to the bottom, and carry along 
with it all the dirt of the suet, so as to leave it as pure and fine as 
wax. To one part of this suet mix three of real wax — and the mix- 
ture cannot be discovered. 

To Whiten Ivory. — Slack some lime in water, put your ivory in 
that water, after decanted from the ground, and boil it until white. 

To Petrify Wood, etc. — Take equal quantities of gem-salt, rock- 
alum, white vinegar, chalk and pebbles powdered. Mix all these to- 
gether ; an ebullition will take place ; when that ceases, leave any 
porous matters soaking four or five days, and they will be petrified. 

An Oil, one ounce op which is more than equal to one pint op 
any other. — Take fresh butter, quick lime, crude tartar and common 
salt, equal parts of each ; pound and mix them together ; saturate 
this mixture with good brandy, and distill it in a retort over a grad- 
ual fire. 

To Imitate Ebony. — Infuse gall-nuts in vinegar, wherein you have 
soaked rusty nails ; then rub your wood with this ; let it dry, then 
polish and burnish. 

An Easy Method of Cleaning the Hands when Dyed. — Take a 
small quantity of potash or pearlash in your hand, pour into it a 
small quantity of water, rub it well all over your hands with a little 
sand ; then wash it off, take in your hand a small quantity of chemic 
(chloride of lime), pour a little water into it, and rub it well on the 
hands in a semi-liquid ; wash the hands well in water, and they will 
be clean. If not perfectly clean, repeat the operation. 

To Make Whitewash that will not rub Off. — Mix up half a pint 
full of lime and water, ready to put on the wall ; then take one- 
fourth of a pint of flour, mix it up with water ; then pour on it boil- 
ing Writer, a sufficient quantity to thicken it ; then turn it, while hot 
into the whitewash ; stir all well together, and it is ready. 

To Cure Six Hams. — Take 6 ozs. of saltpetre, 2 lbs. 10 ozs. of fine 
salt, 4£ of brown sugar or 1 gallon of molasses. Rub them with this 
for one week every day ; the put them into a strong pickle (salt and 
water) tor one month ; then smoke them, if to keep. Your pickle 
will, after the haras are taken out, be excellent for beef. 

A Cement for Broken Earthen Ware. — Take 1 oz. of dry cream 



204 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



cheese grated* fine, and an equal quantity of quick lime, mixed well 
together. 

Water-proof Cloth. — Boil together 2 lbs. of turpentine and 1 lb. 
of litharge in powder, and 2 or 3 pints of linseed oil. Brush any 
cloth with this varnish, and dry it in the sun. 

To Prevent the Smoke of Lamp Oil. — Steep your wick in vinegar, 
and dry it well before using it. 

To Render ant Building Fire-Proof. — Fill every partition and 
crevice between each wall and ceiling with seasand. 

Water-proof Boots and Shoes.— Disolve neat's-foot oil in caout- 
chouc, a sufficient quantity to form a vafnish. Place the oil in a 
warm place ; put in the parings of the caoutchouc. It takes several 
days to disolve. 

Japan Ink. — In 6 quarts of water boil 4 ounces of logwood in 
chips, cut very thin across the grain. Continue the boiling for one 
hour, adding from time to time a little boiling water, to supply the 
loss from evaporation. Strain while hot. When cold, add cold 
water to equal 5 quarts ; to this add — 

Blue-galls, coarsely bruised 16 ounces, 

Or. the best galls, in sorts 20 ounces, 

Sulphate of iron, calcined to whiteness 4 ounces, 

Acetate of copper (previously mixed with the decoc- 
tion to a smooth paste) 4 drachms, 

Coarse sugar 3 ounces, 

Gum-Senegal or Arabic 4 ounces, 

These ingredients may be introduced one after the other. 

Red Ink. — Boil, over a slow fire, 4 oz. of Brazil wood, in small 
raspings or chips, in one quart of water until a third part has evapo- 
rated ; add, during the boiling, 2 drachms of alum in powder. When 
the ink is cold, steam it through a fine cloth. Vinegar or stale urine 
is often used instead of water. A small quantity of sal-ammoniac im- 
proves this ink. 

Blue Ink. — Dilute sulphate of indigo with water until the required 
tint is obtained. Woolen dyers keep the sulphate on hand. 

A Paste for Sharpening Penknives, Razors, etc. — Crocus, emery- 
dust, and sweet oil — equal quantities of the first two. 

Blue Copal Varnish.— Indigo, prussiate of iron (Prussian blue), 
blue verditer, aud ultramarine, all well divided. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 205 



White Copal. — White oxide of lead, ceruse, Spanish white, white 
clay, all carefully dried. 

To Clear Buildings of Rats, etc. — Gather the plant dog's-tongue 
(the synoglossum officinale of Linnaeus), found in every field ; when 
the sap is in its full vigor, bruise it with a hammer and lay it on the 
ground, etc. 

A Cure for Sore Backs of Horses. — Disolve half an ounce of blue 
vitriol in on pint of water ; dab the injured parts four or five times a 
day. 

To Remove Mildew in Wheat. — Prepare about two hhds. of com- 
mon salt and water (1 ft), to a gal.); sprinkle this mixture for four or 
five days from a bucket, using a flat brush ; and disperse it as when 
sowing corn broadcast. 

To Prevent Mildew. — Dissolve 3 oz. and 2 drachms of sulphate of 
copper, or blue vitriol, in 3 gallons and 3 quarts, wine measure of 
cold water for every three bushels of grain that is to be prepared ; 
in another vessel, capable of containing from 53 to 79 wine gallons, 
throw from three to four bushels of wheat, into which the prepared 
liquid is poured until it rises five or six inches above the corn ; stir 
it thoroughly, and carefully remove all that swims on the surface. 
After it has remained half an hour in the preparation, throw the 
water into a basket that will only allow the water to escape. Wash 
the grain in pure rain water, and dry it before it is sown. 

To Brew for a Small Family. — Twenty gallons of good beer re- 
quire 1J bushels of malt and a pound of hops. Boil 30 gallons of 
soft water, in which half a pound of chalk has been dissolved. Hav- 
ing a small boiler, it may take three times to fill your mesh-tub, 
which must be well covered with a double blanket. When full, wait 
until your face is reflected on the surface of the water ; then empty 
your malt therein, and give it a good stir up for ten minutes. Re- 
cover the tub, and leave the liquor to mesh for three hours ; then 
draw it off, by a tap or spigot and faucet, into a cooler ; fill up your 
boiler with this liquor, make up a good fire, and let it boil thorough- 
ly (the longer it boils the longer it will keep — having more body 
from evaporation). Have your brewer's yeast ready, mix a quart 
with some of the boiling fluid, provide two vessels, and pour the 
yeasty compound backwards and forwards to quicken it. When the 
liquor is boiling briskly, throw in one-third of the hops and one- 
third of a pound of liquorice root — or (for debilitated constitutions) 



206 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



introduce 3 ounces camomile flowers ; then rake out the fire, cool off 
a little, and set it working, increasing the beer as fast as it becomes 
tepid. Repeat the latter operations with the two other boilings— and 
when all this has been worked for about twelve hours, in two or 
three large coolers, have your barrels ready (thoroughly clean) ; if 
the inside is charred, so much the better. Leave out the vent-peg 
until the beer has done working. Let it stand for a few days. A 
beverage of this kind is superior to any other for laborers and in- 
valids. 

The addition of carraway seed and sage in cheese rendens it digest- 
ible. 2 ounces of each to every lb. 

Muffins. — Mix 2 lbs. of flour with a pint of warm milk ; 2 eggs 
well beaten ; half a spoonful of melted butter, and half a gill of 
yeast ; stir it well together, and set it in a warm place for two hours 
then bake on a griddle in rings two thirds full. When one side is 
done, turn the other. 

Crdmpets. — Put half a gill of yeast into a quart of warm milk, with 
a tea-spoon full of salt ; stir in flour to make a good batter ; set it in 
a warm place to rise ; when light add a cup of melted butter, and 
bake as muffins. 

Rich Bride Cake. — Four lbs. of fine flour, dried ; 4 lbs. of sweet 
fresh butter, beaten to a cream : 2 lbs. white sugar ; six yolks eggs to 
each lb. of flour ; half an ounce each of mace and nutmeg, finely 
powdered : 4 lbs. of currants thoroughly cleansed — spread ihem on 
a cloth to dry. Stone and chop 4 lbs. of raisins ; cut two lbs. of cit- 
ron in slices, quarter of an inch in thickness ; bleach 1 lb. of almonds. 
Beat the eggs with the sugar to a smooth paste ; beat the butter and 
flour together, ad I them to the yolks and sugar, finish with the spices 
half a pint of brandy, the whites of the eggs beaten to a high froth. 
Beat the cake mixture well together, and stir in the fruit. Butter the 
pans ; line them with paper ; put the mixture in 2 inches deep. 
Bake three or four hours. 

An English Plum Pudding. — Six yolks of eggs ; 1 pint of milk. 
Beat it well with a fork. 1 lb. of flour scattered in ; 1 red carrot, 
finely scraped ; 1 lb. of moist sugar ; 2 ounces each of dried citron, 
lemon and orange peel, candied ; also of carraway seeds j and 
one ounce of magnesia with the flour. Shred half a pound of beef 
suet with the flour before mixing. Boil for 4 hours in a basin or cloth 
well floured, and tied up closely. Add one ounce of allspice. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 207 

Pancakes. — Make a rich batter with 10 yolks of eggs, half a pound 
of sugar, half a pint of good beer, and beat it well up to the consis- 
tence of cream. Throw a little hog's lard into the pan ; when 
thoroughly melted, pour in a cupful of batter, shake it well and toss 
it : then, when six are fried, serve up with sugar and lemon juice. 

Heart Cakes. — Beat half a pound of butter to a cream, take 6 eggs, 
beat the whites to a froth, and the yolks, with half a pound of sugar 
and half a pound of butter I add a wine-glass of brandy, .half a pound 
of currants (washed and dried), a quarter of citron, cut in slices. Mix 
well, and bake in heart-shaped tins in a quick oven for 15 minutes. 

Sponge Cake. — One pound of sugar, half a pound of Hour, 8 eggs, 
essence of lemon or rose water, 1 spoonful ; half a nutmeg grated. 
Beat the yolks of the eggs, flour and sugar together ; add the whites, 
beaten to a froth, when just ready for the oven. Bake for 20 minutes 
and cut in oblongs. 

Italian Macaroons. — Blanch half a pound of almonds, then throw 
them into cold water until they are skinned ; take them out and 
bruise them to a smooth paste. Add to this a table spoonful of es- 
sence of lemon, half a pound of finely powdered white sugar and the 
whites of 2 eggs. Work the paste well together with the back of a 
spoon j roll the preparation in balls the size of nutmegs. Dip your 
hands in water, and pass them gently over the macaroons after hav- 
ing them an inch apart on a sheet of paper. Place them in a cool 
oven and close it. They take three quarters of an hour to bake. 

Iceing for Cakes. — Beat the whites of two small eggs to a high 
froth, add 1\ ft>. of white, ground or powdered sugar, beat well, flavor 
with lemon or rose. With a broad bladed knife, dipped in cold 
water, spread the ice over the cake. 

Lemon Candy. — Three pounds of coarse brown sugar, 3 teacups 
full of water. Set over a slow fire for half an hour. Add a little 
gum arabic, dissolved in hot water, to clear it ; skim until quite 
clear. When done, it will snap like an icicle. Flavor with essence 
of lemon, and cut into sticks. 

An Infallible Remedy for Hoarseness. — One pint of vinegar, 1 
pint of molasses, 1 pint of sweet turnip juice from small Dutch tur- 
nips boiled— just so. Or a pound of turnips may be cut into small 
dice, and. like jujubes, are none the worse for preserving. 

Dried Salmon. — Cut the fish down the back, take out the inside and 
roe, scale it, and rub the whole with common salt. Hang to dry tor 



208 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



24 hours. Pound 3 or 4 ounces of saltpetre, 2 ounces of coarse salt, 
and two ounces of brown sugar. Mix well and rub in, and lay the 
fish for two days on a dish ; then rub well with common salt. In 24 
hours more it will be fit to dry. Wipe well after draining. Stretch- 
ed open on two sticks, and hung in a wood chimney, it will dry. 

To EXTRACT THE JUICE OP SUGAR-MAPLES AND SPARE THE TREE. — At 

the proper season open the ground and select a tender root (one or 
two fingers, diameter), cut off the end, and raise the root sufficiently 
high for turning the severed part into a receiver. |The sugar will flow 
freely ; when it stops bury the root again. The tree will not suffer. 
This is a Kentuckian notion. 

To Restore Tainted Beep. — Plunge it in brewer's yeast for 12 
hours, turn it, and let it remain 12 hours longer. Although putrid, it 
will become perfectly sweet. 

To Preserve Meat. — Spread prepared charcoal between every lay- 
er, and pack in charred barrels. 

In case of being Poisoned. — Take a table-spoonful of prepared 
mustard and mix with warm water ; swallow one half, and call for 
medical assistance. 
A New Recipe for Whooping Cough : 

Hydriodate potassa 6 grs. 

Gum Arabic 7 " 

Syrup Senega Snake Root 1 " 

Tine. Lobelia 1 " 

For Inflamed Uvula and Tonsils. — Pour boiling water on the fol- 
lowing ingredients and inhale the vapor ; hoarhound, tansy and 
wormwood, equal parts, and a sufficient quantity. Use it every lour 
hours, and this gargle : 

Comp. Tine. Myrrh 

Tine. Golden Seal ana 4 ounces, 

A Lobelia Emetic, followed with Crawley and White Root. 
A Stimulating Liniment : 

Alcohol 4 ounces, 

Oil of Wormwood 

Oil Origanum ana 40 drops, 

A Cephalic Snuff. — Equal parts of common salt, camphor, and 

spermaceti, say one ounce of each ; 1 drachm of prepared charcoal. 

To Gild Glass and Porcelain. — Prepare a varnish by dissolving in 

boiled linseed oil an equal weight either of copal or amber. This 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 209 



must be diluted with oil of turpentine and applied as thin as possi- 
ble to the parts for gilding. After twenty-four hours place the glass 
in a stove until too hot to hold : the varnish then will become adhe- 
sive and the gold leaf may be laid on. Brush off the superfluous gold 
and burnish. 

To Gild by Dissolving Gold. — To dissolve gold, take of aqua re- 
gla, composed of 2 parts of nitrous acid, and one of marine acid. 
Let the gold be granulated, put into a sufficient quantity of this men- 
struum and exposed to a moderate degree of heat. During the solu- 
tion an effervescence takes place, and it acquires a beautiful yellow 
color, which becomes more and more intense until it has a golden or 
orange hue and is very transparent. 

The East Indian Cement, called Ceuman. — Equal quantites of oys- 
ter shell powder, egg shells, ground glass, quick lime and bismuth, 
dissolved in nitrous acid, the whole stirred up with the white of eggs 
until ©f the consistence of thick cream. This, when applied on walls 
or tiles, has a beautiful shining appearance. 

Painting on Velvet. — Materials : Best white cotton velvet ; box 
of water colors ; a saucer of pink dye ; Towne's alumina ; velvet 
scrubs ; fitch pencils ; small saucers to contain diluted colors. Prac- 
tice the most simple subjects first, such as a shell or flower, etc. -The 
broadest light and shade produce best effects. Colors for velvet are 
lake, carmine, vermillion, light red, assiette rogue, Prussian blue, in- 
digo, Antwerp and verditer, gamboge and Roman ochre, terre de 
Sienna, burnt and unbiirnt, umber do., do., Vandyke brown, bistre, 
lamp black, Indian ink. Smooth the back of the velvet with a hot 
iron. Cut your fitch pencils to points. Having drawn your subject, 
dilute the colors in alumina, excepting pink, carmine and lake, (mix- 
ed with lemon juice). Make the color creamy. Rub in the tints with 
the scrub. Before the work gets too dry, put in the shadows accur- 
ately, softening off the edges. Before the finishing tints are thrown 
in, heighten the lights and deepen the shadows, then vein the leaves. 
For a large subject, damp the back of the velvet. Let the brush be 
nearly dry when passing the outlines. Have a good supply of clean 
fitches and avoid the faintest stain. 

A bouquet, saturated with chloroform and placed on the bosom of 
a corpse, will not wither after several years' burial. 

Magic Seals, Rings, Images, Rods, and Wafers. — A will made in 
yeur favor has a magic seal. A mothers lips, or the lips of a lover 



210 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



make very deep impressions. Magic Rings are plain hoops of gold, 
that transform vestals into good women. Magic Images are tbe little 
anima-waxen figures that are raised by a wizard, called Hymen. 
Magic Rods were formerly used in schools by grumpy pedagogues of 
the Squeers genus ; and Magic Wafers are what young ladies love for 
billet doux. (Bet on these.) 

To Paint on Silks, Satins, &c. — When the outline is made, lay on 
a wash of isinglass carefully, otherwise the colors will not work freely. 
The lights are to be made by a small tincture of the intended flower 
mixed with the flake white, or any color. If a blue flower, use a very 
small quantity of bice or verditer with the white, using less of it as 
the shades grow darker ; in the darkest parts use indigo only. Do 
not use much color. A little white sugar candy will be found neces- 
sary to mix with the gum water to prevent cracking. 

Cement for Kitchen Utensils. — Take 6 parts of yellow potter's 
clay, add 1 part of steel filings, and a sufficient quantity of oil. Make 
a paste of the consistence of glazier's putty. 

An Extraordinary Cement, used by coppersmiths, for boilers, 
&c. — This is one of the most simple yet durable adhesive compounds 
ever invented. As economical as excellent, if applied fresh made. 
It merely consists of pounded quick lime and ox-blood made into a 
paste. 

Microscopic Cement. — Put into a bottle 2 parts of isinglass and 
one part of the best gum arabic, cover them with proof spirit, cork 
the bottle loosely, place it in a vessel of water, and boil it until a 
thorough solution takes place, when it must be strained for use. This 
compound is invaluable, and will join any kind of crystal, came©, or 
costly article of jewelry. The receipt is very rare. 

A Cement for Filling Decayed Teeth.— Gum Mastic dissolved 
in spirits of wine. 

Ax Excellent Salve for Cuts, Bruises, &c. — 1^ oz. of olive oil, 
2 oz. diacula, and 2 oz. beeswax, dissolved together." 

For Imitating Bronze. — A solution of sal ammoniac and salt ©f 
sorel in vinegar, applied frequently, will produce the desired effects 
on metals; and, for bronzing sculptures, plaster figures, &c, a com- 
position of yellow ochre, Prussian blue, and lamp black dissolved 
in glue water. 

To Render Caoutchouc Soluble, use purified naphtha or coal-tar ; 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



211 



oajeput oil is equally good. Mixed with oil of turpentine a paste is 
formed which may be spread like varnish. 

A Wrnish to Gild with, without Gold. — Dissolve 1 drachm of 
saffron and half a drachm of dragon's blood, (both well pulverized 
together,) in half a pint of spirits of wine. Add this to a certain 
quantity of shell-lac varnish, and set it on the fire with 2 drachms of 
Socotrine aloes. 

Varnish for Toys, &c. — Dissolve 2 oz. of gum mastic and 8 oz. of 
gum sandrach in a quart of alcohol ; then add 4 oz. of Venice turpen- 
tine. The addition of a little of the whitest part of gum-bejamin will 
prevent this varnish from cracking. 

To put a Fixe Gloss ox Silk. — If light colored, dissolve a small 
quantity of isinglass in water, ran your silk through this (when rather 
cool), squeeze out, and smooth while damp. For dark tints, take a 
fair white potato, cut it in very thin slices, pour on it boiling water, 
let H stand till rather cool, take out the slices of potato, and dip your 
fabrics in this liquid. 

Artificial Corks for Bottles. — Melt equal quantities of hog's lard 
and turpentine, and stop your bottles with it. 

To Preserve Irox from Rust. — Warm your iron until you cannot 
bear your hand on it without burning yourself. Then rub it with 
new and clean white wax. Put it again to the fire till it has soaked 
in the wax. When done rub it over with a piece of serge. This pre- 
vents the iron from rusting ever after. 

Cutaneous Affectioxs. — Creosote made with liquorice powder into 
pills are excellent when the eruption is of a cancerous nature, but the 
proportions depend on peculiar symptoms. Apply to me in time, I 
have infallible specifics. 

Erysipelas. — A solution of gutta percha tissue. Keep the solution 
in a small tin pot, having a screw lid, to prevent evaporation. 

Itch. — Dissolve chloride of sulphur in the sulphuret of carbon, and 
apply this with a large brush to the entire surface. 

To Prevext Pittixg in Small-Pox, — Paint the face with a solution 
of gutta percha in chloroform immediately after complete maturation. 

Biscuits for Invalids. — 1 ft>. of flour, 10 grains of prepared char- 
coal, 1 drachm of Jamaica ginger, chalk 2 ditto, carraway seeds 1 
ounce, best butter two drachms, white sugar 4 drachms, mix with 
warm milk, and bake in a slow oven. 

Liquorice Lozenges.— An excellent compound for sore throat : 



212 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

Extract of liquorice, 

Double refined sugar, ana 10 ounces, 

Tragacanth powdered 3 do. 

Powder them thoroughly, and make them into lozenges, with rose- 
water. 

Ginger Drops. — Excellent in flatulence. Pound and sift through 
a silk sieve the required quantity of ginger (according to the strength 
required,) add it to the sugar with clear water. China ginger is the 
best, being aromatic. 

The Real Potted Marmalade. — Cut very pale Seville oranges 
into quarters, take out the pulp, put it into a basin, and pick out the 
skins and seeds. Put the peels into a little salt and water, and let 
them stand all night, then boil them in a good quantity of spring 
water until they are tender, cut them in very thin slices and put them 
into the pulp. To every pound of marmalade put 1J pound of double 
refined beaten sugar, boil them together 20 minutes (gently). If 
they are not transparent, boil them a few minutes longer, stir it 
gently all the time, and do not break the slices ; tie down tightly 
when cold. 

Genuine Scotch Marmalade. — Used instead of butter for invalids. 
Take of the juice of Seville oranges 2 pints, yellow honey 2 lbs., boil 
to a proper consistence, and mix It with the potted marmalade. 

To Make Fancy Figures and Color Sugar. — First, to make a 
tenacious paste for moulding, steep gum tragacanth in rose water, 
and make it into a composition with double refined sugar. To pro- 
duce a red. boil an ounce of cochineal in half a pint of water for 5 
minutes, add 1 oz. of cream of tartar, half an ounce of pounded alum, 
and boil them on a slow fire 10 minutes, add 2 ounces of sugar, and 
bottle for use. Blue— rub an indigo-stone in warm water till suffici- 
ently deep. Yellow — a little gamboge on a plate, or an infusion 
made of the heart of a yellow lily flower with warm water. Green — 
boil the leaves of spinach about «1 minute in a little water, when 
strained, bottle the liquor for use. 

Almond Cheese-Cakes — Slice a penny loaf as thin as possible, 
pour on it a pint of boiling cream, let it stand for two hours. Beat up 
eggs, half a pound of butter, a grated nutmeg, mix them into cream 
and bread with half a pound of currants well washed and dried, 
and a spoonful of white wine or brandy. Bake in patty pans. 

To Clarify Coarse Brown Sugar. — Put 50 lbs. into a pan which 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 213 



will contain one-third more, ponr in 20 pints of water, well mixed 
with 5 whites of eggs, pound 5 lbs. of small charcoal, mix it in the 
pan while on the fire, and boil till the fluid is black as jet. If it rises 
too fast, add cold water ; strain through a bag until it becomes clear, 
which will be seen when placed in a glass. Put it back until like fine 
and clarified as loaf-sugar. 

Fancy Biscuits. — Almonds (blanched) 1 lb., sugar ditto, and orange 
flower water ; when perfectly smooth place them in a small pan, with 
flour sifted through a silk sieve. Use a slow fire, and dry the paste 
till it does not stick to the fingers ; move it well from the bottom to 
prevent burning, then take it off and roll it into small round fillets, 
to make knots, rings, etc., and cut it into various shapes ; make an 
icing of different colors, dip one side of them in it, and set them on 
wire gratings to drain. Some may be strewn over with colored 
pistachios, or colored almonds ad lib. 

Pistachio Ckeam. — Beat half a pound of pistachio nut kernels in a 
mortar with a spoonful of brandy, put them into a pan with one pint 
of good cream and the yolks of 2 eggs beaten fine. Stir gently over 
a fire, till it becomes thick, then put it into a china plate ; when cold, 
stick it over with small pieces of the nuts. 

Okgeat Paste. — Three-fourth of a pound of sweet, and a quarter of 
a pound of bitter almonds pounded together and sufficiently moistened 
with orange juice and orange flower water to prevent oiling, three- 
fourths of a pound of fine powdered sugar, mix the whole into a stiff 
paste. It will keep six months. When wanted for use, take a piece 
the size of an egg and mix it with a half pint of water and squeeze it 
through a napkin, 

Pate de Gutmacve. — 2\ lbs. white gum Arabic and white sugar, 
with a sufficient quantity of boiling water. Dissolve, strain and 
evaporate, without boiling, to the consistence of honey ; beat up the 
whites of 6 eggs, with 4 drachms of orange flower water, mix gradual- 
ly with the paste, and evaporate over a slow fire, stirring continually, 
until it is light, spcngy, and extremely white. 

Pate de Jujubes. — 1 ft>. of raisins stoned, lib. currants, picked, 
jujubes, opened, each 4 oz., water a sufficient quantity, boil and strain 
with great care, add 2J of sugar, 2J of gum Arabic (previously made 
into a mucilage with some water), strain, evaporate gently, pour into 
moulds, dry in a stove, and divide. 

Damson Chese.— Good for colds. Boil the fruit in water enough 



214 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



to cover it, strain the pulp through a coarse sieve, to each pound add 
half a pound of sugar, boil until it begins to candy on the sides, then 
pour into moulds. (Other fruits may be thus prepared.) 

Cocoa Paste. — Fresh roasted cocoa berries pulverized in a mortar, 
1 1>., honey from the comb half a pound, of gum Arabic in solution 2 
drachms, 1 glass full of the best brandy. This is generally used in 
China among Celestials of the highest order. 



Scrofula; or King's Evil. 

Origin — Nature — Treatment. 

The term " Scrofula" is of Greek origin " Scrofa" signifying a 
" sow," so named because the swine is said to be subject to a similar 
disease. In other words, scrofula may be considered as importing 
swine-evil, swine-swelling, or a peculiar kind of morbid tumours to 
which swine are subject. This disease also often occurs in the horse, 
and is known by the name of farcy. Indeed the disease called glan- 
ders is known to consist in tubercular affections of the mucous mem- 
brane of the nostrils. Stall-fed cows, or those kept in cities and fed 
on garbage and the swill refuse of distilleries likewise, are sure to 
become affected with scrofula. 

All animals kept confined emdfedupon improper or unwholesome food 
are more or less subject to the loathsome disorder, man being prob- 
ably more subject to it than any of the lower animals. 

There is a prevalent prejudice against the use of swine's flesh as an 
article of food — the hog being considered a scrofula breeding animal 
on account of its filthy habits and disgusting mode of feeding. Doubt- 
less this has much to do with engendering the disease, not only in the 
swine itself, but must contribute to insure a scrofulous diathesis in 
those persons who partake of its flesh as an article of diet. The hog 
nevertheless, if cleanly kept, in properly prepared and ventilated 
pens, and fed on corn and other wholesome food, so far from becom- 
ing scrofulous, will afford animal food of the most valuable and nu- 
tritious character, the fatty portion, especially, being highly advan- 
tageous in all cases of Consumption or Tuberculosis, as affording 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 215 



that caloric or heat to the system so often required by the invalid suf- 
fering from these diseases. The Jews and Turks seem to be privi- 
leged to entertain their antipathy to pork an as article of food, but en- 
lightened science must refute any such Fallatcy of the Faculty as will 
ignore the article as a very essential element in the ordinary dietetics 
of the human being. We should no more eat diseased pork, than we 
should use the milk or flesh of the bovine animal kept in a city in a 
closely confined stall and fed on the slops of kitchens and distiller- 
ies. It is the fashion among epicures to feed on geese, ducks and 
other fowls, after being gorged with food, till their livers are render- 
ed highly diseased and tuberculated, yet we have never heard of any 
especial mischief resulting therefrom, except that incident to glut- 
tony, as obesity, etc. Without doubt, all animals properly fed, will 
afford suitable food to the human creature, if used in connection with 
vegetable matter, fruits and farinaceous substances. The Chinese 
and Japanese eat rats, mice, snails, and other creatures that are ut- 
terly obnoxious to a Christianized palate, while the French consider a 
fricasse of frogs a very favorite appetizing delicacy ! Chacun a son 
gout ? It is not the use of any kind of animal food, but the abuse of 
it, which induces disease or constitutional evils. In sooth the meat 
of healthy swine is no more to be discarded than the flesh of cattle 
generally— beeves, sheep, etc, There can be no question that the 
milk of the swill-fed cows is the chief cause of the scrofulous affec- 
tions and excessive mortality among children between one and five 
years of age, in ail large cities. Such fatal consequences from bad 
milk, however is no argument against the use of pure milk. So be- 
cause the hog is sometimes fed on unwholesome food, that is no rea- 
son why the flesh of healthy swine is injurious to the human econo- 
my. Indeed, there are abundant facts to prove the contrary. Pork is 
the staple article of food in the armies and navies of all civilized na- 
tions. It is in fact a stamina of diet that is not likely ever to be dis- 
pensed with, until man shall obtain a more sublimated or etherialized 
state of existence than the one he is now compelled to maintain. 
Besides, it is not true that the use of pork as food is a chief cause of scro- 
fula. The contrary is the fact. In many countries, where hog's flesh 
is not eaten at all, as in Switzerland, Savoy etc. Scrofula is exceed- 
ingly common among the inhabitantants. If we are to believe the illus- 
trious Badoloque, bad food generally, and above all, badly ventilated 
houses or sleeping chambers, are the main cause of this distressing 



216 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



disorder. It is indeed high time that old errors were exploded, and 
medical and hygenic views presented is in strict accordance with 
modern physiological researches and demonstrable pathological and 
hygienic facts. To return from this digression. 

Scrofula has also been called the '• Kings Evil" from the ancient cus- 
tom of submitting patients to the royal touch. It was so denominated 
in the t'me of Edward the Confessor, the first who attempted to cure 
it by a touch of his royal finger. From a register kept in the royal 
chapel, we find that Charles II. touched 97,107 persons in a certain 
number of years. Did all these persons derive the scrofulous taunt 
from eating the flesh of swine ? There is a vulgar superstition yet 
extant in some portions of the United States, that " the seventh son 
of a seventh son," possesses this miraculous power of curing scrofu- 
luos affections, by the mere touch of his finger to the neck of the help- 
less patient I 

Scrofula is a disease that appears in every variety of form and de- 
gree of violence, from an enlarged gland of the neck, axillce (arm- 
pits) groin, white swelling of the knee, hip-joint disease {morbus cox- 
arius) to diseased mesenteric glands, indurated liver, tuberculated 
lungs, and the most loathsome ulcers. 

The author of this work would make a wide distinction between 
Pulmonary and Tubercular Consumption — but if they are really one 
and the same. disease, then a very large proportion, about one-sixth of 
the entire human family, die of scrofula. 

Scrofula depends upon a peculiar depraved condition of the solids 
and fluids of the system. This is very evident from Dubois 1 analysis 
of the blood of scrofulous persons. It manifests itself by a gradual 
enlargement of the lymphatic glands, especially of the neck, which 
becomes the seat in most, if not all cases, of a deposition of tuber- 
culous matter. It first appears in hard indolent tumours behind the 
ears and under the chin, and also in the glands of various parts of 
the body. After a time, the tumours suppurate and degenerate into 
ulcers, from which instead of pus, a white curd-like fluid resembling 
the coagulum of milk, is discharged. Not unfrequently the eyes, the 
mucus glands of the nose, and tonsils, become affected ; and even the 
joints and bones, in some cases, yield to the influence of the disease. 

When examined under the miscroscope, the blood is found to co- 
agulate slowly ; the clot is small, soft and different, while the serum 
(water) is thin and often of a red color. Some of the corpuscles ap- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 217 



pear devoid of color at the edges only, but, generally they are en- 
tirely colorless, which is conclusive evidence of a deficiency of solid 
constituents extractive matter and salts, in the body. 

Dr. Abercrombie well describes the anatomical and pathological 
changes which takes place in the lymphatic glands of this disease. 
He observes : " In the first state of enlargement, these glands pre- 
sent, when cut into, a pale flesh color, and a uniform, soft, fleshy tex- 
ture. As the disease advances, the texture becomes firmer, and the 
color rather paler. In what may be regarded the next stage, we 
observe portions that have lost the flesh-color and have acquired a 
kind of transparency, and a texture approaching that of soft cartil- 
age. While these changes are going on, we generally observe in other 
specimens the commencement of the opaque, white structure, which 
seems to be the last step in the morbid changes, and is strictly analo- 
gous in its appearance and properties, to the white tubercle of the 
lungs. In a mass of considerable size, we can sometimes observe all 
these structures often in alternate strata ; some of the strata being 
composed of the opaque with matter, others presenting the same pe- 
lucid appearance, while in other parts of the same mass, portions 
which retain the fleshy appearance. In the most advanced stage, the 
opaque, white or ash-colored tubercular matter is the most abun- 
dant ; and this afterwards appears to be gradually softened, until it 
degenerates into the soft cheesy matter, or ill-conditioned suppuration 
so familiar to us in affections of this nature." 

Those predisposed to scrofula have generally a delicate and lan- 
guid countenance, a delicate, rosy tint of the cheeks and lips, par- 
ticularly if a tendency to Phtisis Pulmonalis (Consumption) exists 
or a pale, soft, flaccid and timid-appearing countenance and upper 
lip, a large head, inflamed eye-lids, variable appetite, and weakened 
digestive organs, with mucous diarrhoea, or a constipated state of the 
bowels. In females, leucorrhceal discharges are prone to occur, and 
in young children excoriations behind the ears, scabby eruptions on 
the lips, face and head, with a fretful irritable temper. The glands 
about the neck become enlarged, and firm to the touch ; the joints 
are unusually large, while the intellect appears prematurely devel- 
oped, and the growth of the body is slow. As the disease advances, 
the salivary glands and the internal glandular parts, such as the liv- 
er, pancreas and spleen, become enlarged and indurated ; the bones 
necrosed, and the cartilaginous covering ulcerated ; the large 



218 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



joints swell and ulcerate, as we observe in white swelling of the knee 
and in hip-joint diseases. 

The disease most commonly occurs between the age of two or three 
years and puberty ; oftenest under seven years of age. It rarely oc- 
curs as a first attack after the individual has grown to adult maturity. 
Scrofula may be hereditary or acquired. It is probably more fre- 
quently acquired than inherited ! In fact we have no positive evidence 
that the disease is hereditary. It often appears in families, whose 
predecessors, as far as can be traced, have never had a vestige of the 
disorder. Children born of Scrofulous parents are not invariably 
affected with the scrofulous diseases ; and some times one child has 
some strumous affection while the parents and the rest of the family 
have no appearance of Scrofula. 

There are many diseases usually recognized to be of a scrofulous 
character. Among these may be mentioned — 

1st. The inflamation and suppuration of the glands about the neck, 
before mentioned, and which sometimes heal, leaving seams and scars, 
which in some cases resemble those following a scald or burn. 

2. Tubercular disease of the lungs, or pulmonary consumption, and 
tubercular disease generally. 

3. Opthalmia, or inflamation of the eyes, when of a peculiarly ob- 
stinate character. 

4. Otorrhcea, or a purulent discharge of offensive character from 
the ear, the meatus auditorias externus being particularly affected. 

5. Ulcerations of the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth, throat, 
etc. 

6. Chronic inflamation of the synorial membranes and other parts 
composing the joints, white swelling being a familiar form of this 
species of disease. 

It may be remarked in this connection that Scrofulous children are 
more subject to worms than others. They are also very liable to 
nervous affections and insanity. 

Another effect of the disease is to produce abortion. In other words 
the scrofulous foetus is not uufrequently so feeble, that the vital pro- 
cesses in the womb cannot go on healthfully ; as a consequence the 
embryo is expelled. The fault if such we call it— may be either on 
the father's or the mother's side, or both. 

Some writers make out almost every morbid taint of the system to'' 
consist of the Scrofula. Thus we have Scrofulous swellings of the glands 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 219 

of the neck, Scrofulous ophthalmia, white swellings, morbus coxarias, 
or hip joint disease, lumbar abscess, or Psoas abscess, tabes mesentrica, 
or Scrofulous disease of the mesenteric glands, scorbutus or scurvy, 
bronchole or goitre, rachitis or rickets, pavouchia or whitlow or felon, 
authrag or carbuncle, furunculous, or boils, sycosis, or warts and ulcers 
generally, carcinoma — caxcinus or cancer not excepted. This appli- 
cation of the term Scrofulous, appears to us entirely too extensive for 
any practical purposes. No doubt all these disorders here named 
arise from the same o;reat primary cause of a deficiency of the solid 
constituents, extractive matters and salts of the system, nevertheless 
the remedies employed to cure, are required to be specifically as well 
as constitutionally administered, according to the peculiar diathesis of 
every individual patient. 

The affection is otten joined with some other such as rickets, spinal 
disease, etc. It is very apt, where a predisposition to it exists, to 
follow severe fevers and eruptive diseases, such as typhus, small-pox, 
measles, scarlatina, yaws, etc. Syphilis is also not unlrequently its 
forerunner. Severe grief, and other mental troubles such as the loss 
of property may bring it on suddenly. 

The causes of Scrofula indeed are very numerous. It is however 
essentially a disease of weak vascular action, or, in other words, of 
debility. Hence, any agency which has a tendency to induce this state 
of the system, is liable to induce an attack. Extreme heat and cold, 
especially when occurring in irregular vicissitudes, are powerful 
disponents of the disease. Extreme heat being a relaxing and debi- 
litating agent is particularly unfavorable in regard to Scrofula. The 
causes which have been most known to be concerned in the produc- 
tion of Scrofula, or its predisposition are, the influences of climate, 
especially observed where the atmospere is low, humid, and variable; 
impure confined air, deficient and unwholesome food. It may be 
fairly asserted, also, that the pernicious use of mercury, has produced 
more cases of Scrofula, in every variety of form — from indurated 
glands, to necrosed bones, foul ulcers, swellings of the joints, and 
Consumption, than all other causes combined. Mercury never fails 
to insinuate itself into ever j fibre, and by its affinity for the calcareous 
part, destroys the affinity existing among the ultimate constituents, and 
emphatically proves the solvent to a perfect decomposition of the human 
organism. 

Another cause demanding attention, is the introduction of impure 



220 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



vaccine virus in inoculation against small-pox. This has not only pro- 
duced Scrofula where it did not previously exist, but has caused other 
diseases far more loathsome than that which it was intended to shield 
the system against. Many a fair child has thus been ruined, which 
fact certainly urges upon us, in the strongest possible terms, the 
necessity of exercising the closest scrutiny in regard to the constitu- 
tional predisposition of those from whom the virus is taken. 

In regard to the treatment of Scrofula, nothing very definite has 
been laid down by physicians. It is usually considered incurable, 
and therefore very little efforts have been made to discover remedial 
agents likely to ensure a cure. This apathy or indifference is worthy 
of the severest reprehension. The fact is the worst form of scrofula is 
curable, under proper treatment. The process of amelioration, or 
cure, however, is one of extreme care, patience and time — the time 
being usually from six months to a year. 

Patients should remember that scrofula is a chronic disease and of 
inveterate character. It can never he rapidly cured. If it can be cured 
by a long and persevering use of the appropriate measures, the patient 
ought to be thankful for the success. 

In respect to Drug medicaments, a few facts may be given. As 
Br. Marshall Hall, in his valuable work on the " Theory and Practice 
of Medicine." well observes : In the constitutional treatment 'of 
scrofulous affections in general, a great variety of specific remedies, 
the use of which has seemed to originate in the hypothetical and fre- 
quently chimerical opinions of their advocates, have been employed 
and signally failed. Alkalies, acids, lime water, salts, earthy and 
metallic chalybeates, vegetable tonics in their respective turns, have 
raised and disappointed expectations. The employment of Iodine 
has also proved a miserable failure. The fact is, no single remedy is 
entitled to reliance for the removal of the constitutional taint of 
scrofula. 

According to Dr. Cullen.if mineral waters, chalybeate, sulphurous 
and saline are ever successful, it is the elementary water that is the 
chief part of the remedy — being of use, perhaps, by washing out the 
lymphatic system. 

In reg ird to the employment of mercury, whether combined with 
some preparation of antimony or precipitated sulphuret, as in Plum- 
mets pills, Dr. Good, emphatically declares that he never found such 
medicines of any manifest service in the treatment of Scrofula. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 221 



The same author agrees with Dr.Cullen that narcotics, such as hem- 
lock, henbane, foxglove, solanum, asclepias, vincotoxicam, and many 
others, "are not the remedies to dispose scrofulous ulcers to heal!" 

In fact, every mineral or vegetable preparation introduced as a 
specific remedy has most signally proved abortive even in mitigation 
of the ravages of the terrible disorder ; hence scrofula has long been 
considered an incurable malady! The want of success in affecting 
cases, however, is mainly chargeable to the physician's execrable 
ignorance ol the origin and nature of the disease. 

In treating scrofula, four particular states of the disease must be 
kept in view. 

1st. A state of inflamation. 2d. A state of abscess or ulcer. 3d. A 
state of tumor or scirrhus. 4th. A state of constitutional affection. 

As a matter of course the medicines should cover not only the con- 
stitutional diathesis, but the local disorder. 

For this purpose, .after many years of close observation and practi- 
cal experience, the author as-made such discoveries in the therapeu- 
tic properties of certain hitherto unknown plants, as to enable him to 
prepare medicines that have never yet failed to "effect permanent and 
radical cures in the most intracticable cases in a few months. He 
can produce at least a thousand instances of such cases, recorded in 
our "Case Book." The "course of treatment," embraces a series of 
medicines, each one package destined to effect a certain specific action, 
on the part or organ particularly affected. They are accompanied 
by full and explicit directions for their use individually and general- 
ly. Each course is intended to last two months, the various medicines 
embraced in the same, being furnished on receipt of $18. fn some 
instances, one course of medicine is sufficient to effect a permanent 
cure. The medicines are pleasant to take, and eminently recuperative- 
in their general operation. Persons afflicted, desiring these infallible 
courses, should expressly state all the particulars of the disorder, to- 
gether with age, sex, temperments. employments, etc., in order that 
the medicines may be put up to suit the especial case. No attention 
will be paid to orders unaccompanied by the cash, $18 for each 
course. The remedies are put up in neat boxes or packages, and 
promptly forwarded to all parts of the United States, agreeably to 
order. Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York City. 



222 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



Origin of Various Plants 

Wheat was brought from the central table land of Thibet, where 
its representative yet exists as a grass, with small mealy seeds. 

Rye exists wild in Siberia. 

Oats wild in North Africa. 

Barley exists in the mountains of Himalaya. 

Milet, one species is a native of India, another of Egypt and 
Abyssinia. 

Canary seeds from the Canary Islands. 

Rice from South Africa, whence it was taken to India, and thence 
to Europe and America. 

Peas are of an unknown origin. 

Lentil grows wild on the shore of the Mediteranean. 

Vetches are the natives of Germany. 

Chick pea was brought from the South of Europe. 

The Garden Bean from the East Indies. 

The Horse Bean from the Caspian Sea. 

Buckwheat came originally from Siberia and Tartary. 

Rape seed and Cabbage grow wild in Sicilv and Naples. 

The Poppy was brought from the East. 

The Sunflower from Peru. 

The Lupine from the Levant. 

Flax, or Linseed is in Southern Europe a weed in the ordinary 
grain crops. 

Hemp is a native of Persia and the East Indies. 

The Garden Cress out of Egypt and the East. 

The Zealand Flax and Syrian Swallow shows their origin by their 
names. 

The Nettle, which sometimes furnishes fibers of spinning, is a na- 
tive of Europe. 

Wood is a native of Europe. 

Madder came from the East. 

Dyer's weed grows in Southern Germany 

Safflower came from Egypt. 

Dill is an Eastern plant. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 223 



Hops came to perfection as a wild plant in Germany. 

Mustard and Carraway seed the same. 

Anise was brought from Egypt and the Grecian Archipelago. 

Coriander grows wild near the Mediteranean. # 

Saffron came from the Levant. 

The Onion out of Egypt. 

Chickory grows wild in Germany. 

Tobacco is a native of Virginia and Tobago ; another species has 
also been found wild in Asia. 

Fuller's Teasel grows wild in southern Europe. 

Lucerne is a native of Sicily. 

Spurry is a European plant. 

The Gourd is probably an Eastern plant. 

The Potato is well known native of Peru and Mexico. 

The Jerusalem Artichoke is a Brazilian plant. 

Turnips and Mangold Wurzel came from the shores of the Mediter- 
anean. 

Kohlrabi and White turnips are natives of Germany. 

The Carrot is by some supposed to have been brought from Asia, 
but others maintain it to be a native of the same country as the Tur- 
nip. 

The Parsnip is supposed to be a native of the same place. 

Spinnach is attributed to Arabia. 

White Millet to Greece. 

The Radish to China and Japan. 

The Cucumber to the East Indies. 

Parsley grows in Sardinia. 

Tarragon in Central Asia. 

Celery in Germany. 

OF TREES AND SHRUBS 

The Currant and Gooseberry came from southern Europe. 

The Pear and Apple are likewise European plants. 

The Cherry, Plum, Olive and Almond, came from Asia Minor. 

The Mulbery Tree from Persia. 

The Walnut and Peach from the same country. 

The Quince from the Island of Crete. 

The Citron from Media. 

The Chestnut from Italy. 



224 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

The Pine is a native of America. 

Horse Chestnut from Thibet. 

The Whortleberry is a native of both Asia and Europe. 

The Cranbery of fiurope and America. 



Dropsical Diseases. 

Character, Variety, Peculiarities, Symptoms. Causes, Treatment, 
etc., etc., New Remedial Discoveries. 

Hydrops, or Dropsy is a disease which arises from a peculiar dia- 
thesis of the human system, and one which has baffled the science of 
the most skillful physician in the application of remedial or curative 
agencies. A lack of a proper diagnosis and an imperfect acquaint- 
ance with the pathology of the disease, are the chief causes why so 
many physicians fail in its treatment — insuring only increased suffering 
to the patient by their bungling manipulations and barbarous reme- 
dies, if they do hurry them to an untimely grave. 

The term Hydrops, (or dropsy) is from a Greek word meaning 
water. Dropsy, accordingly, implies a preter natural collection of 
serous or watery fluid in the cellular membrane or substance in the 
organs, or different cavities of the body, impeding or preventing the 
functions of life. In other words, Dropsy consists in a '• pale and 
inelastic distension of the body and its members from accumulation 
of a watery fluid in natural cavities." The disease may be either 
cellular, or it may affect the head, spine, chest, belly, ovary, Fallopian 
tube, womb, or scrotum. Hence, it receives different appelations 
according to the particular situation or location of the fluid in the 
body, or parts in which it is lodged. When it is deposited in the 
craniam (skull) or brain, it is termed hydrocephalus; when in the 
chest, it is called hydrothorax, or hydropspectoris ; when in the cavity 
of the abdomen, it is denominated ascites ; when in the uterus, hydro- 
metra ; in the scrotum, (the bags which contains the testicles) it is 
called hydrocele ? in the ovaiies or ovariam, hydrops ovarii or ascites 
ovarii; in the joints, hydrops articuli; in the knee, hydrops genu, and 
when generally diffused through the cellular membrane it is called 
anasarca. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 225 



Cellular Dropsy, is characterized by " a cold and diffusive intumes- 
cence of the skin, pitting beneath the pressure of the fingers.- ' Anas- 
arca (cellular dropsy) from the Greek words signifying through and 
flesh, is a form of dropsy, consisting in a morbid collection of serous 
fluid beneath the subcutaneous cellular tissue, and generally diffused 
throughout the entire body. It is usually classed into five varieties, 
viz: — Anasarca serosa, anasarca opitata, anasarca exanthematica. and an- 
asarca debUiasm, so named simply from their specific causes. There are 
really but three varieties of this disease : General Dropsy — anasarca — 
which, as before stated, extends through the cellular membrane of the 
body: adema, limited to the swelling of the limbs.chiefly of the feet and 
ankles, and mostly appealing in the evening ; and dyspnetic dropsy, 
consisting of adematous swelling of the feet, stiffness and numbness 
of the joints ; the swelling rapidly extending to the belly, with some 
and mostly fatal dyspnecea, or shortness of breath, or diffijulty in 
breathing. Ordinarily, before dropsy becomes general, it shows itself 
in the lower limbs, and before death (in fatal cases) the respiration is 
peculiarly difficult, forming one of the most distressing symptoms of 
the disease. The form of it known as anasarca, is common to all ages, 
though most frequently found in advanced life. It generally com- 
mences with swelling of the lower extremities : First the feet and 
ankles are observed to be swollen towards the evening ; but it yields 
to the recumbent position of the night, leaving no trace or very little 
of the swelling or rising from bed in the morning. The tumefaction 
or swelling is rather soft and inelastic, and retains, for a time a mark 
or pitting, after pressure by the fingers. Gradually the swelling in- 
creases, becomes permanent, ascending higher and higher, till not 
only the thigh and hips, but the trunk of the body, become affected, 
while the face and eyelids are surcharged, appear full and bloated ; 
the complexion meanwhile instead of exhibiting the ruddy hue of 
health becoming sallow and waxy. A general inactivity now per- 
vades all the organs, and, by consequence, all their respective func- 
tions. At this stage, the pulse is slow, often oppressed and always 
inelastic ; the respiration is troublesome and wheezy, and accom- 
panied with a cough that brings up a little delicate mucus, which 
affords no relief to the sense of weight and oppression ; or the ex- 
pectoration may be a watery fluid. The urine is scanty, very high 
colored, and usually deposits a reddish or pink-like sediment, although 
in some instances it is of a pale whey color. These symptoms are ac 



226 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



companied by insatiable thirst, a dry and harsh state of the skin, and 
costiveness. The appetite fails, the muscles become weak and flaccid, 
and the general frame emaciated. Frequently the water oozes out 
through the pores of the skin ; sometimes, indeed, water is seen is- 
suing from abrasions and fissures in the skin, caused by an actual 
bursting from the pressure of the effused skin, while it often raises or 
elevates the cuticle in the form of small blisters. A sort of perpetual 
fever often attends the disease. Exertion of every kind is a fatigue, 
and the mind partaking of the habitude of the body, engages in study 
with reluctance, and is overpowered with drowsiness and stupor. 
Local anasarca may be produced by whatever impedes the free re- 
turn of blood by the veins ; as pressure from indurated glands, and 
obstructions from tight bandages and ligatures , but general anasarca 
or dropsy depends upon causes which act more generally ; such as 
organic disease of the heart and kidneys, particularly that form of 
degeneracy, known as " Bright's disease. 77 Debility is the great pre- 
disposing cause of this Jform of the disorder, whether from excessive 
losses by hemorrhage (loss of blood) or otherwise. Fevers of various 
kinds, severe exposure to cold, refilled cutaneous eruptions, suppres- 
sed habitual discharges, obstructed menses, gout, cancer, scrofula, 
disturbance of the uterine functions, and disease of some internal 
organ seem to induce Anasarca or cellular dropsy. It frequently oc- 
curs in the latter stages of diabetes, pulmonary consumption, etc. — the 
symptoms under such circumstances commencing slowly, and, as it 
were, imperceptibly. It occasionally follows scarlet fever, while the 
phenomena is sometimes observed as a sequel of measles, small-pox 
and erysipelas. 

The first cause of every species of dropsy, no doubt, exists in the 
kidneys, in consequence of their ceasing to perform their office, ox 
failing to secrete or excrete the urine. When this is the case, the 
urine is retained or reabsorbed, and consequently taken into the cir- 
culating mass. The exhalents then pour it out in greater quantities 
than the obsorbents can take up ; thus the serous or watery effusion, 
and a collection follow, which we call Dropsy. In fact, a elimination 
of urine is a characteristic symptom of Anasarca. Hence, that diuretic, 
or medicine, which will safely stimulate the kidneys to a healthy 
action or cause them to secrete or seperate the urine from the blood, 
could scarcely fail to relieve or cure the disease. 

It is proper here to remark that general dropsy often rises from 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 227 



excess in the use of spirituous liquors, while drug medicaments, parti- 
cularly the injudicious use of Mercury, Arsenic and Sulpher, given 
for other diseases, often induce and excessively aggravate general 
dropsy. 

The treatment of Dropsy has been extremely varied among physi- 
cians, scarcely any two agreeing in the theory or nature or origin of 
the terrible disorder. One school or class of medical men will give 
aconite, lachesis, mercurials, arsenicum, sulphur, cantharides,digitalis, 
etc., which not only serve no useful purpose, but positively aggravate 
and complicate the disease, rendering cure impossible and speedy 
death certain. 

Another barbarous method of removing the fluid in dropsy of the 
lower limbs, is that of making minute punctures in the skin with a 
needle! u By making minute punctures in the skin,'- observes Dr. 
Elliotson, ' ; an immense quantity of water maybe drawn away!" 
This is doubtless the fact. When the needle is withdrawn, a bead of 
clear serum (water) will appear, and the oozing continue for some- 
time. Twenty or thirty punctures are sometimes made atone sitting, 
without the physician seeming to be aware that serious results are 
nearly certain to follow. However minute such punctures may be, 
patients have often lost their lives through them, gangrene following 
as a natural result of such irrational puncturing of the cuticle. 

Water has been employed to cure dropsy, but as a matter of course 
without success. It is not in the nature of water to expel water. The 
idea is about as ridiculous as to suppose that a drowned man should 
be brought to life by being more drowned! 

In respect to Hydrocephalus, or hydrops capitis, dropsy of the head, 
dropsy or the brain, or water in the head, it is a disease that mostly 
belongs to children, although it often commences in adult age. It is 
both external and internal. It is often found at birth, the head of the 
child being so enlarged as to prove a serious hinderance to delivery. 
From four to eight pounds of water have been often drawn from the 
head of a child after its birtb. In some adults the head has measured 
thirty three inches in circumference and contained ten pints of water. 
The causes of Hydrocephalus, are doubtless the same as those which 
produce anasarca or general dropsy, perhaps aggravated by the im- 
proper dietic and other habits in which child-bearing women are so 
apt to indulge. Asa matter of course the administration of drugs, 
or drastic purges in such cases is a desperate expedient, as futile as 



228 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



dangerous, while the usual diaretics have always proved more injuri- 
ous than useful. Dropsy of the spine, spina bifida, may be known by 
a soft, fluctuating exuberance on the spine, with gaping vertebrae. 
It is mostly fatal. There has been cases by opening the tumor and 
drawing off the fluid, but the operation usually hastens death. 

Ilydrothorax — Hydrops Thoracis or Dropsy of the chest, is charac- 
terized by a sense of oppression in the chest, dyspnoea or shortness 
of breath on the slightest exertion ; the countenance is lurid ; the 
urine red and sparse ; the pulse is irregular ; there are palpitations 
and startlings during sleep, wiih edematous or swelled extremities. 
Eydrothorax is usually an accompaniment of anasarca, or general 
dropsy, and requires the same general treatment. It is usually found 
among persons of advanced years. It is often suddenly fatal, cutting 
the patient off by spasms, either while awake or asleep. It is often 
connected with organic disease of the heart. Its causes are the same 
as those of general dropsy. 

In the treatment of Dropsy of the chest, when all other remedies 
fail a recourse is had to tapping. It is an operation only to be en- 
trusted only to the most experienced surgeons. It is a dernier expedi- 
ent, at best, and amounts, in fact, to murdering a person to put him 
out of misery. Tapping rarely proves successful. The surgeon who 
resorts to it should be held guilty of premeditated homicide, and 
punished for manslaughter or "murder in the second degree." In 
any case, it amounts to malpractice, worthy of the most serious re- 
prehension. 

Dropsy of the Belly (Hydrops Abdominis) also called ascites, in- 
cludes three species : the atonic, preceded by general debility of the 
constitution ; the parabysmic, induced by some affection of one or 
more of the abdominal organs; and the metastic, arising from repell- 
ed gout, rheumatism, or some skin disease. The fluid is contained 
either in the affected organs, or in the cavity of the abdomen. It has 
sometimes been mistaken for pregnancy, while pregnancy has often 
been disguised under the pretense of dropsy. The two have some- 
times occurred together, thus deceiving the oldest physicians and put- 
ting science to the blush. Many laughable cases have occurred show- 
ing the stupidity and egregious blundering in the diagnosis by phy- 
sicians of "acknowledged experience," the wise-acre esculapians mis- 
taking acites, or the swelling of the abdomen for ovarian tumour ! 
Physicians have not unfrequently been suddenly called to a patient 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 229 

suffering in great agony, and supposed to be dying, after being treated 
for ovarian dropsy, to find her delivered of a healthy child, and the 
tumour entirely vanished ! 

The other forms of dropsy — ovarian dropsy, dropsy of the Fallopian 
Tube, dropsy of the womb, dropsy of the scrotum, wind dropsy, are 
diseases of the respective local parts, requiring the t am * general treat- 
ment as anasarca or general cellular dropsy, with such modication 
of or, aditional medicines, as will have a direct or specilic effect upon 
the particular organ. 

There is another disease closely allied to general dropsy which de- 
serves to be mentioned in this connection. We mean obesity. 

When obesity is not very excessive, it rather adds to the beauty of 
the individual. In some parts of Asia, young women are regularly 
fattened for .marriage, a practice the opposite to that pursued among 
the Coman ladies, who starve their damsels for the purpose of mak- 
ing them lean as possible on such occasions. 

Obesity is usually considered a condition of good health, when in 
fact, especially if excessive, it is a state of positive disease. Fat per- 
sons are liable at any moment to outbreaks of some violent malady, 
which is more apt to go hard with the person than if he were lean. 
They are also more liable than others to bowel complaints. Adipose 
(fatty) matter encumbers the body by its weight, hinders the natural 
and healthful play of the various vital functions and processes, and 
is, therefore, in all respects objectionable. Fat is the basis of all tu- 
mours and growths of the steatomatous kind. It contains the seba- 
cic acid, which acts on many of the metals, such as lead, copper, 
iron, etc., with a peculiar effect. 

We must not be understood to say that no fat whatever is to be 
in a healthy body. In a true physiological state there is always a 
small amount of such matter, but so small in the human body as to 
amount to but little compared with the whole weight. The fat of 
the human frame usually averages about the twentieth part of the 
whole ; it has sometimes amounted to a half or even to four-fifths. 
Persons are frequently found weighing four, five and six hundred 
pounds. The celebrated Lambert, of Leicester, died in his fortieth 
year weighing seven hundred and thirty-nine pounds. The " Jack 
FalstafF' of Shakespeare, was even more bulky, his weight being 
eight hundred pounds bulk, if indeed that " doughty" individual 
was not really a "myth." The "Philosphical Transactions" furnishes a 



230 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



case of a girl four years old. who weighed two hundred and forty-six 
pounds. There are many cases of obesity equally extraordinary on 
record. Excessive fatness is a cause of impotency in males and of 
sterility or barreness in females! 

In general, excessive eating and drinking, in connection with a too 
indolent life, are the causes of this evil of obesity or fatness. 

The cure of obesity is extremely difficult. It is supposed to de- 
pend upon an abstinance of food, liquors, etc., little short of starva- 
tion, accompanied by excessive exercise, etc. Some have resorted 
to the drinking of vinegar and strong acids, without a knowledge of 
the extreme mischief they were doing to the organism. It is related 
of a Spanish General, who was of great size, that he drank vinegar 
so much that he was able to fold his skin around his body. Such a 
practice is most pernicious to the digestive organs, and is certain to 
eventuate in excruciable suffering, and a tormenting death. Drug 
medication or drastic depletives or evacuations, only tends to the ir- 
retrievable ruin of the constitution of the luckless individual. 

My plan of treatment of all forms of dropsy and obesity, is radi- 
cally different from any other ever yet pursued. It should be re- 
membered that as dropsy is a disease of debility, the plan of evacua- 
tion, will never effect a cure, except in very recent cases, when but 
little inroad has been made upon the constitution. In these attempts 
to mitigate an evil, greater one's are sure to follow. Indeed every 
purgative seems only to add to the general disease. 

To effect radical cure, invigorating medicines must be employed. 
Strength must be imparted to the constitution, and the organs 
brought to a natural performance of their functions. Indeed a total 
removal of the water affords only a palliative, and a present or tempo- 
rary relief. 

It is plainly apparent that a course of mercury, or mineral treat- 
ment, will only tend to the aggravation of dropsical affections, liter- 
ally adding horrors upon horrors. We repeat, the disease can only 
be cured by a diuretic which will restore the kidneys to their normal 
or natural condition, causing the urine to flow freely, and thus drain- 
ing the system of its morbid serous or watery accumulations. The 
first object in. every kind of dropsy, should be to evacuate the water 
and afterwards to prevent its re-accumulation. Most of the diapho- 
retic infusions, heretofore employed, such as of sage, hyssop, mint, 
catnip, spearmint, with steamings over decoctions of tansy, hoar- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 231 



bound, hops, etc., with emetic powders, cathartics of julap, cream of 
tartar, or the use of hydragogue tinctures, are really useless, for they 
never effect a cure, except in cases of recent disorder, where nature 
has recuperative powers sufficient to expel morbid accumulations and 
promote a spontaneous cure. Indian hemp, milk weed, dandelion 
roots, etc., also, have but a limited effect, if really any preceptible 
one, in the amelioration or indication of dropsical affections. Fox- 
glove and euphobia, ippecacuanha. and the use of Holland Gin, rarely 
do any good, they are most certain to aggravate the disease, if they 
do not render cure next to an impossibility. 

Under such circumstances, the writer has spent many weary days 
and many sleepless nights to understand the philosophy of this pe- 
culiar disorder, with a view to devise some remedy which would 
have some specific action on the kidneys, and tend to the permanent 
cure of the various forms of dropsy, being satisfied that the seat and 
origin of the whole is traceable to the one fountain source — that of 
the uterine organs. 

Happening, at length, to visit the Republic of Paraguay in 1848, 
the writer became acquainted with the celebrated traveler Francis del 
Castelnau, (a French savant, sent out to South America. Brazil. Bolivia, 
etc., to explore the valley of the Amazon etc., by Louis Philippe.) and 
also with E. A. Hopkins Esq. U. S. consul at Paraguay at the 
time. From these gentlemen he obtained much valuable information 
respecting the country, and its mineral aud vegetable products. Ac- 
cording to Mr. Hopkin's, " Paraguay is but another Paradise." This 
the author of this work found to be eminently the fact. He speaks 
with the greatest certainty from his own knowledge. Divided by the 
Tropic of Capricorn, the surface of the count! y is like a chess-board, 
chequered here and there with beautiful pastures and magnificent, 
forests. Beginning with the head waters of Paraguay, on the Brazil- 
ian side, the productions are gold and precious stones, sugar, mo- 
lasses, hides and horns of extraordinary size, hair, tallow, wax, deer 
and tiger skins, with rice, corn, and the different manufactures of the 
mandioca root. In Bolivia, are found gold and precious stones, sil- 
ver, coffee, (equal to Mocha) and Peruvian bark. 

Besides these, of medicinal herbs, the valley yields in great profu- 
sion rhubarb, sarsaparilla, jalap, bezonia, indica, sassafras, holywood, 
dragon's blood, balsam of copaiba, liquorice and ginger. Here too, 
are found dye stuffs of the short exquisite tints, including cochineal, 



232 THE MAGIC WAND ; AND 



two kinds of indigo, a vegetable vermilion, saffron, golden rod, with 
other plants, producing all the tints of dark red, black and green. 

Among sixty varieties of timber, valuable for ship-building or for 
caoinet work, is the "Leibo tree," which when green, is spongy and 
soft as cork, and can be cut like an apple but when dry is so hard 
as almost to defy the action of steel. Then there is the Palo de vi- 
vora, or " snake tree," whose leaves are an infalliable cure for the 
poisonous bite of serpents. There are likewise the Palo de leche, or 
milk tree, literally a " vegetable cow," yielding a delicious and nu- 
tritive fluid, and the Palo de Borracho, or drunken tree, a vegetable 
distillery. 

Many of the trees yield gums and drugs of the rarest virtues, and 
of the most exquisite perfume, as yet unknown to pharmacy on the 
mechanic arts. " They comprise," says Hopkin's, (see Bulletin of 
the American Geographical and statistical society, Vol I. memoir on 
Paraguay, by E. A. Hopkins, Esq. U. S. Consul), t; some of the most 
delicious perfumes and incense that can be imagined. Others again 
are like amber, hard, bitter and insoluble in water. Some ceders 
yield a gum equal to gum arabic ; others a natural glue, which, 
when once dried, is unaffected by wet or dampness." 

The idea resin is found at the roots of trees under ground, and is a 
natural pitch, ready prepared to fay the seams of vessels. In these 
wilds also are found, side by side, with the India rubber tree, the 
vanilla, with its sweet scented bean, and the Palo santo, from which 
the gum guaicaum of our commerce is gathered. Wild, too, in these 
wonderful forests, grow, mature, and decay annually and in large 
quantities, two or three kinds of hemp ; the nux seponica, or soap- 
nut, the coca, verba, malte, of superior quality, two kinds of cotton 
with vegetable oils, and wax in vast quantities. 

It was here that Dr. Waddell, the botanist saw the micaya with its 
elegant foliage, the fruit of which was described by the Indians to be 
of an oblong form, and to contain a natural confectionary of which 
they are very fond. 

In the city Cayaba, they get, also a drug from the Amazon called 
guarana, of which the consumption is enormous, and to which medi- 
cinal virtues the most astonishing are ascribed. In addition to all 
these advantages, the climate is exceedingly delightful and salubri- 
ous, many of the inhabitants reaching the age of one hundred years. 

When the author arrived in Paraguay, he was accompanied by a 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 233 



friend who had been afflicted with anasarca, or general celluh; 
dropsy for many years, his weigh from obesity, etc., being upwaras 
of three hundred and fifty pounds. He soon made the acquaintance 
of a native Indian doctor, or medicine man, who promptly set about 
curing him, which he did within a few weeks reducing his bulk more 
than one half of its dropsical condition, to his normal wight of 
about one hundred and sixty pounds, at which point it has since re- 
mained, the indications of the watery effusions being kept down by 
the occasional use of a medicine prepared by the author, after ob- 
taining a knowledge of the medical properties of curious plants, 
roots and flowers, gums, etc., from the said native Paraguayan doc- 
tor. The author has, since his return to ihe United States in 1850, 
tested the efficacy of his remedies in all forms of dropsy, with infal- 
lible success. Hence he has been induced to enter into the perparation 
of a medicine expressly for general dropsical affections, and now regu- 
larly imports the various articles from Paraguay, and manufactures the 
remedies agreeably to the original fomula of the Paraguay chief with 
certain improvements, which enables him to guarantee a cure in every 
case, whether of dropsy or excessive fatness however inveterate, where 
the patient is willing to undergo a full course of treatment, which is 
one of a pleasant character, unattended with pain or inconvenience. 
Persons accordingly suffering from any form of dropsy, or obesity 
have only to describe the kind of disease, or its location in the system, 
to receive a course of medicine expressly adapted to the individual 
case. Radical cures are effected in from two t j six months. The va- 
rious medicines, comprising " a course," are accompanied by full 
and explicit directions for their use. The price of each course is 
$20, which must invariably accompany the order for the remedies. 
Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York City. 



Development of the Human Breast. 

Cotton and Padding of the Human Breast Superseded, — There is 
nothing in the world which makes, a lady look so womanly and at- 
tractive as a well developed breast. A very large breast is not gen- 
erally to be desired, but on a well-shaped woman, a symetrical, neat 
and beautifully-shaped breast is altogether winning, natural and 



234 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



lovely. How many thousands of ladies are there who suffer in this 
respect, and resort to all sort of appliances to obtain an " appear- 
ance" in that respect, when, by the use of an " easy, certain, and 
natural" means the desired end can be permanently arrived at in a few 
weeks. I have an easy, pleasant and natural " means," which I can 
send by mail, prepaid to any address, with full instructions, that will 
" permanently" enlarge the human breast to any required size, shape 
or form. And not only may the human breast be so enlarged but any 
other member or organ of the human body. 

Tnis preparation is put in beautiful octagon boxes. Its effect, 
when applied externally to the parts, gradually produces a perman- 
ent enlargement, of a healthy, solid and of a durable nature. 

Price of this preparation is five dollars, sent by mail, and warrant- 
ed to accomplish all that I promise. One preparation, such as I send, 
would last a long time, and answer for several persons. It is a thing 
that will and has produced a great deal of satisfaction between the 
sexes, " in more ways than one." Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., 
New York City. 

Fits or Convulsions. Spasms. 

VARIETY, NATURE, CAUSES, TREATMENT, ETC. 

The term Fits or Convulsions is usually applied to all kind of ner- 
vous affections inducing spasmodic affections, such as epilepsy, hys- 
teria, etc. 

In treating of Fits, I have in view not only those convulsions 
which often occur in children and young people, and sometimes in 
adults, and which assumes no specific character, but those which are 
clearly defined as muscular and nervous affections. First of, 

Epilepsy, or Falling Sickness. The name of this disease is derived 
from a Greek word, signifying sudden attack, or to seize upon. The 
Romans called it morbus comitialis, because ot the violence of the 
passion to which the Roman people were accustomed to be worked 
up in their popular assemblies, when addressed by demagogues and 
others often proved the exciting cause of an epileptic attack. In 
such cases it was called a bad omen, and the meeting was at once dis- 
solved on account of it. In England, similar attacks have been 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 235 



known to occur in highly excited public gatherings, in which case it 
has been called the electioneering disease. We have surely elec- 
tioneering demagogism enough in the United States, but we do not 
hear of people being struck down from such a cause. It, however, 
has often been observed as a result of religious excitement, at camp- 
meetings, revivals, etc. The disease is also called the Falling Sickness 
because the patient suddenly falls when seized with it. It consists of 
clonic convulsions, with stupor, with spasmodic twitchings of the 
muscles of the face and frothing at the mouth. It is divided by 
Cullex into as many distinct varieties as there are common causes 
capable of producing the peculiar disorder. 

The Jews, it would seem, ascribed this disease to the influence of 
demons. In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter XVII, and 15th verse, 
we read, " There came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him 
and saying : * Lord, have mercy on my son. for he is a lunatic and 
and sore vexed ; for oftentimes he falleth into the fire, and oft*' into 
the water.' And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of 
him ; and the child was cured from that very hour." This passage is 
supposed to refer to the disease in question. 

The fits in some cases, are very numerous at first ; but gradually 
become less frequent. The more unfreqnent, however, the more se- 
vere they are apt to be. In some instances, fifteen or twenty fits oc- 
cur in a day at first. Some have only a few fits, when they pass away 
never to return. Sometimes only a single fit is experienced. When 
the attacks are very frequent, it is considered a bad omen. There 
is usually but one fit at a time, although they are frequently experi- 
enced in quick succession. The disease has occasionally lasted two 
or three days, with but little or no remission. It sometimes returns 
regularly at stated times — with the revolution of the morning or the 
evening. The learned Dr. Good, supposes that the disease may have 
observed lunations, or have been influenced by the phazes of the 
moon. 

Diagxosis. — The attack frequently comes on without any premoni- 
tory symptom or assignable cause. Generally, however, there are 
certain symptoms preceeding the paroxysms, such as a peculiarly con- 
fused state of the head, giddiness, dimness of sight, vertigo, sounds 
and singing in the ears, periodical oppression, restlessness, starting 
during sleep, confused mind, difficult articulation, and a change in 
the moral disposition just previous to the attack ; some evincing 



236 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



timidity, while others are spiteful, resentful and mischievious. Spas- 
modic twitches of the muscles of the face sometimes appear a few 
seconds preceeding the attack. 

Some Epileptics are always warned of the approach of an attack 
by a peculiar sensation termed the 11 aura epileptics,," 'which is compared 
by patients to the sensation produced by a current of air or water 
running from the feet and legs, and gradually ascending until it 
reaches the head, when the patient becomes insensible and the con- 
vulsions set in ; others a have premonitory warning symptom, singu- 
lar to a fright or shock. In some cases, a spectre of some sort is seen 
just as the fit is going to come on. Dr. Gregory tells of a patient 
who, before the fit, always saw a little old woman come out of a cor- 
ner with a stick, and when she approached struck him, he fell down 
in a paroxysm. Of course this was a mental delusion of the moment 
only. 

If the patient is sitting or standing, when the attack occurs, he 
suddenly falls, becomes perfectly insensible, and is more or less con- 
vulsed; the eyes roll, lips and eye-lids are convulsed ; the face nearly 
distorted; the tongue frequently thrust out*of the mouth, and se- 
verely bitten by the gnashing of the teeth ; the thumbs are pressed 
in upon the palms of the hands, and the whole frame is violently agi- 
tated ; the face is generally livid, attended with a congested state of 
the vessels of the ne<*k ; the heart beats violently and the respira- 
tion is much oppressed. This condition lasts for an indefinite period, 
from a few seconds to half or three quarters of an hour, when the 
spasms begin to abate, the breathing becomes freer, the pulse fuller , 
and more regular, and the patient appears to be in a stupor or sleep, 
in which he remains for sometime, and generally awakes from it in a 
confused and torpid state of mind. The spasms are clonic (moving to 
and fro) spasmodic, tinkling, distorting, an I thereby differ from tonic 
cramping, tetanic spasms. The countenance is ghastly and pale ; 
sometimes yellow or a bluish red. Sometimes the urine and feces are 
discharged involuntarily — the urine most frequently, occasionally 
there is a discharge of semen, without an erection. 

In epilepsy, as in several other nervous diseases, such as hysteria, 
St. Vitus' dance, and paralysis, one side usually becomes more effect- 
ed than the other — generally the left side. 

Persons are not supposed to suffer pain during the attack. At least 
they do not remember to have suffered. Persons, in general do not 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 231 



suffer when they are hung. Lord Bacon gives an account of a per- 
son who was hung, and all but killed, who yet declared that he did 
not suffer in the least. The poet Cowper, according to his own state- 
ment, attempted three times to commit suicide, once by hanging. In 
this he bungled the business. He suspended himself over the door 
in the Temple, and becoming insensible, his weight caused him to 
drop to the floor, where he was found and afterwards restored. He 
declared that his experment caused him no pain whatever. In 
strugling the brain becomes terribly congested, much more so than in 
the epileptic fit. Hence there is no reason to suppose that no pain is 
felt under such circumstanees. 

Causes, etc. — The existing causes of epilepsy are numerous. Among 
these, fright and sudden emotions of the niind, are conspicuous. Pa- 
rents have often made their children epileptic by frightening them, 
a barbarism that ought to be treated as a penitentary offense. Over- 
loading the stomach, and other debaucheries induce the disease, by 
carrying partial congestion of the brain. Arsenic and other corrosive 
and medicines, give rise to it. Constipation, worms, and other dis- 
orders of the stomach and bowels frequently act as the exciting 
cause. The use of Tobacco, is a chief cause of Epilepsy. Inheritance 
is also a cause. No one afflicted with the disease should ever think 
of becoming a parent if he or she would avoid perpetuating the lament- 
able disease. The form of the head has much to do with the disorder, 
especially if there is a deficiency in the cerebral mass. Some epilep- 
tics, however, have a well developed brain. Age has an influence in 
causing epilepsy. It is very apt to occur at the time of puberty. It 
is more common among males than females, except in young children 
and infants. Celibacy predisposes to the disease. Solitary vice, or 
masturbation of the sexual organs, is a primary cause of Epilepsy. 
The disorder is a bar upon marriage. Patients are often unmarried 
because they are epileptic, instead of being epileptic because they 
are married. It is sometimes acquired by sympathy or irritation. In 
this way it has been known to run through a boarding-school or 
hospital. One of the peculiarities of the disease, is that the patient 
is apt to be troubled with a most voracious appetite. Fits in children 
and others usually proceed from some acrid matter in the stomach 
and intestines, such as drugs, and various kinds of poisons, or from 
flatulence, teething, worms, recession of some kinds of rash, or the 
retreating of an eruptic disease, such as scarlet fever or scarlatina, 



238 THE MAGIC WAND. AND 



small-pox ; sudden emotions of the mind, such as fear, anger, ett. It 
also arises from teething, pregnancy, etc. 

There are numerous nervous disorders more or less allied to Epi- 
lepsy such as Chorea, St. Vitus' Dance, Convulsions in children, 
Puerperal convulsions, Catalepsy, Ectasy, Trance, Hysteric, Delirium 
Tremens, Drunken Fits, Syncope, or Fainting Fits, etc., all of which 
are to be treated according to the specific disease and symptoms 
peculiar to each. 

Treatment. — In the treatment of Epilepsy and all kindred diseases, 
it is important to inquire into the state of the natural functions, ap- 
petite, digestion and nutrition; also into the secretions aud excre- 
tions ; and lastly, if the patient be a female, into the functions of the 
uterus, particularly as regards menstruation ; for it is utterly impos- 
sible to treat this disease successfully without first directing the 
remedy to the primary local focus of irritation wherever it may be 
situate:!. 

In respect to diet and regimen ; if the patient be of a full habit, 
the diet ought to be restricted both in quantity and quality. In debi- 
litated subjects it must be generous and nutritious. The exercise 
should be moderate, and anything a' tending to excitement strictly 
avoided. As a general rule, epileptics had better restrict themselves 
as much as possible to vegetable and farinaceous food. 

The question is often asked can Epilepsy be cured. Medical re- 
cords would say that it is an incurable disorder! Cures have doubt- 
less been effected by the spontaneous efforts of nature, but we have no 
decisive proof that they have ever been achieved by the " old school 77 
practice of drug medication. About a century ago, siramonian was 
esteemed a specific for this intractable disease. This remedy at the 
present day, is discarded as utterly worthless, if not positively perni- 
cious or aggravative of the malady. Counter irritation has also been 
often employed in cases of Epilepsy. It is asserted that an accidental 
hurn,ha,8 answered the purpose of a surgical escharotic, and fortunate- 
ly proved a radical cure. It is not likely, however, that any sensible 
patients would be willing to have a running sore made upon any part 
of his body, whether with a hot iron, caustic, potash, or the concen- 
trated mineral acids, even if the barbarous experiment should prompt- 
ly effect a cure. The fact is, blisters, tartar emetic, and the like 
substances that are absorbed into the system, are liable to cause ir- 
remediable mischief, sometimes even more terrible than Epilepsy 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 239 



itself. Epilepsy, like all other nervous diseases, is one of debility. 
How, then, in the name of common sense, can drugs be used to fortify 
the general health ? The thing is impossible. In some cases, per- 
haps, Epilepsy may have been cured by a poison, on the principle of 
creating a new disease. Arsenic may have cured obstinate skin dis- 
eases, but then it must have been with a sad havoc of the viscera 
generally. It would be like robbing Peter to pay Paul. The patient 
would be better off with his original disease. 

When the attack is sudden and violent, it is usual to put the patient 
in a warm bath, or if this cannot be readily prepared, to immerse the 
feet in warm water, and rub the stomach with capsicum and spirits, 
simmered a few minutes together. If there is time, an injection or 
clyster is also given. These appliances, perhaps, are all well enough* 
in their way, but are no guarantee against a return of the malady. If 
the disease arises from acid or foul matter in the stomach an emetic is 
given ; but like the employment of stramonium, hyoscyamus, tincture 
of opium, etc., and other poisons, only with temporary benefit, if they 
do not create a new disease, and still farther complicate the original 
malady. 

Thanks, however, to progressive medical science, these difficulties 
in the case of a permanent cure of Epilepsy and kindred diseases, no 
longer exist. Remedies of recent discovery are now available, not only 
to prevent an attack of Epilepsy in persons predisposed to the disease, 
but to break up the most inveterate symptoms, and radically cure, in 
a very short time, cases that have baffled the skill of the most eminent 
physicians for years, The remedies are of a tonic and recuperative 
character, strengthening the nervous system and at the same time 
cleansing the stomach, bowels, and viscera generally, and thus speed- 
ily removing all acrid or morbid accumulations from the system. 
They are easy of administration, and can be given during the fit or 
convulsion, or in the intervals, as a nullifyer of the spasms, and as a 
safeguard against oft-repeated attacks until the disease is entirely 
removed, by the gradual recovery of the constitution to a natural or 
nominal condition of health and vigor. 

The remedy embraces in its ingredients a variety of herbal pro- 
ductions eminently servicable in nervous, gastric and bilious de- 
rangements, so skillfully prepared, as to be adapted to any particular 
case or peculiar idiosyncracy or condition of the patient. Persons 
afflicted with Epilepsy, or any kindred disorder, have only to state 



240 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

the full particulars of their case — giving the age, sex, temperaments 
habits, kind of fits or convulsions, how long standing, etc., inherited 
or acquired, etc., to receive a course of medicine calculated to effect a 
speedy and effectual cure. Permanent cures may be anticipated ra 
every case, where the patient faithfully takes the remedy, and impli- 
city obeys the directions in respect to diet, exercise, etc. The price 
of a course of the medicines, with full directions, etc., is ten dollars, 
which must accompany the order, and which medicines will be im- 
mediately forwarded by express, or otherwise, as may be directed. 
Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York City. 

Private Diseases Prevented. 

I have the French and German Sheath, or Condams, also the Patent- 
ed Gutta Percha Condams, all of which are made of the very best 
material, and stronger than hemp or silk. I warrant those to last for 
years, if carefully used. The price is $1 each, or three for $2, or $7 
per dozen. I send them in a letter, free. I can furnish a cheap kind 
at $2 per dozen, but they are worthless. I have another kind, a 
beautiful article, made from silk and the entrails of a fish. They are 
softer than the whitest down, or silk velvet, and of immense durabil- 
ity. I send them in a letter, by mail, to any address, at $2 each. 
The pleasures of sexual intercourse may thus be enjoyed without fear 
of disease, or danger of pregnancy. A very large and liberal discount 
to dealers. Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York Cur. 

Rheumatismus. Rheumatism. 

ITS OKIGIN— NATURE— TREATMENT. 

Rheumatism is from a Greek word signifying dejluxions ; or from 
deflus, a latin term, meaning to flow or run oft*-- as a falling down of 
humors from a superior to an inferior part, viz., in a cold or a catarrh. 
Many writers, however, mean nothing more by it than wfiamalion. 
Hence it is a disease placed in the class I'yrexia, (indicating fire or fe- 
ver) and is found in the order Phlegmasia of Cullen's NoseoJogy. 

Rheumatism is characterised by pain in the joints, increased on mo- 
tion ; swellings and redness j pulse accelerated ; increased tempera- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 241 



ture and thirst. The pain, swelling and inflamation generally com- 
mence in the joints of the extremities, in the toes and ankles, passing 
thence to the hips ; and from the joints to the fingers successively to 
the shoulders. 

Rheumatism is of two kinds — acute and chronic ; the latter being 
generally, but not always, a sequel of the former. 

It is a highly painful disease, especially in the acute, articular, or in- 
flamatory form ; the old method of practice sometimes rendering it a 
perilous disorder. It is very prone to metastasis (or change from one 
place to another), particularly when treated by bleeding, and the lo- 
cal application of anodyne embrocations and blisters. 

Acute rheumatism prevails most among persons from puberty to 
the age of thirty-five or forty years. It is sometimes seen in children 
as early as the third or fourth year. It consists, as already intimated, 
in redness, heat, pain and swelling ; in other words, of inflamation of 
" the parts lying around or entering into the composition of one or 
more of the larger joints of the body ; generally of several at the 
same time, or in succession ; shifting from one joint to another, or to 
certain internal organs, and especially to the membrane of the heart, 
accompanied with fever." 

Acute rheumatism is further characterised " by a great expression 
of pain, with excessive perspiration on the forehead, and loaded and 
moist state of the tongue. The patient generally lies on his back, 
and especially avoids every motion of the body or limbs ; or if he 
does move, he experiences an acute aggravation of pain, calls out, 
and gives a prompt check to the muscular effect. There is little 
langor or debility ; little disturbance of the mental faculties ; the 
general surface is usually covered with perspiration, which is usually 
acid ; the skin is warm, pale and often profusely moist, frequently 
'miKara' (from milium millet, or resembling millet seed, an eruption, 
preceded by a sense of pricking, first on the neck and breast, of small 
red pimples, which soon become white vesicles, desquamate or scale 
off and are succeeded by fresh pimples). A peculiar odor is also ex- 
haled ; the pulse is frequent, strong and full ; the appetite is seldom 
impaired ; the bowels are regular ; the urine is acid, and deposits a 
sediment of the lithates, especially on the decline of the affection. 

In the form denominated atonic, (weakness or defect of muscular 
power,) the parts are scarcely if any hotter than they should, be; 



242 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



and may be even relieved by heat This state of things is most apt 
to occur in the chronic form of disease. 

The chronic form of Rheumatism is distinguished by pains in the 
joints or muscles without fever, (Rheumatismus non febrilis, of Rich- 
ter), and is divided into species according to the parts affected. When 
the pains are confined to the loins it is termed lumbago ; when to the 
hip-joints, Sciatica; to the joints generally, Arthodynia. It is not un- 
common for the acute form to terminate in one of these species. 

There is generally little or no fever in this form of the disease, ex- 
cept when the joints becomes affected by scrofulous or other inflama- 
tion, as is sometimes the case in connection with rheumatism. In old 
and severe cases the joints often become very stiff, and comparative- 
ly immoveable. The muscles and ligaments become contracted, 
thickened and rigid, and the joints are always drawn to one side, 
producing a good deal of deformity. In some cases dislocation it- 
self is thus caused. In very old cases the muscles become almost, 
or wholly useless, and the parts quite paralyzed. In this form of the 
disease, as well as in the acute, the patient can frequently foretell a 
storm or change of weather, by the nervous or painful sensations they 
experience. 

Diagnosis. — It appears hardly necessary to diagnose more particu- 
larly the characteristics of Rheumatism. I may say, however, that 
the best method to detect the rheumatic character, is first to enquire 
if there had been cold or inflamation, influenced more or less by at- 
mospheric changes. Secondly, though the pains may be very acute 
in an attack of rheumatism, the inflamatory symptoms are never so 
great, nor is there that bounding pulse so characteristic of other in- 
flamations. Thirdly, the perspiration is of an urinuous order, in con- 
sequence of ircarious (or change or substitution), secretion ; urea 
and lithic acid float in the blood, and are observed in the perspira- 
ble matter ; while the urine is albuminous and diminished in quan- 
tity. The albumen may be easily discovered, as the substance, (in 
appearance like the white of an egg), will adhere to a splinter taken 
from a broom, when immersed in the urine an hour or two after be- 
ing voided ; or it may also be detected by boiling some urine in an 
iron spoon over a lamp, which gives it an opaque appearance. 

Causes. — It is usual to attribute this disease to the effects of wet 
and cold. Doubtless these influences often are the exciting causes of 
rheumatism ; but that they generate the disease is a palpable fal- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 243 



lacy. In the coldest countries, it is comparatively unknown. 
Rheumatism is seldom heard of in Russia, Denmark and Poland. 
The aborigines of America — surely often enough exposed to wet and 
cold — never had rheumatism before the whites introduced liquor 
among them. In fact, rheumatism is one of the penalties of dissipation 
and certain to be its companion in old age. There are many causes, 
however, which tend to produce the disease even among the young 
and abstemious ; such as sitting in a current of air ; bathing in cold 
water when excited and perspiring freely ; sleeping in damp apart- 
ments, or in damp linens, etc. It frequently follows scarlet fever, 
measles, dysentery, and supposed habitual discharges, as the menses, 
etc. The indiscriminate use of mercury is one of the most frequent 
causes. 

Rheumatism is evidently a constitutional disease. It seems to de- 
pend on the presence of an abnormal acid in the circulation. At 
least a large amount of lactic acid is thrown off by perspiration in 
some attacks of this disease. Some object to this theory, because the 
disease sometimes seem purely of a nervous character ; but it must 
not be forgotten that while the acid matter in some cases only act on 
the nerves, its influences, in other cases, is felt in the fibrous or ser- 
ous texture. 

The disease therefore should be regarded as something more 
than ordinary inflamation, as its elements must pre-exist in the system 
before wet and cold can suffice to induce an attack. 

Investigation, indeed, will show that rheumatism is generally pre- 
ceeded by a derangement of the digestive organs, hence impure blood 
and an abnormal accumulation and congellaiion of lymph in the lympha- 
tic vessels. I have never known an instance in which such did not 
appear to be the case. The symptoms of gastric disturbance, however, 
in some cases, are not very marked ; but in general the patient will 
be found to have been dyspeptic a considerable time before attacked 
with rheumatism. 

There can be no doubt that a predisposition to the disease is often in 
herited. We know that tubercles, syphilis, etc., may exist at birth 
It is accordingly, no stretch of the imagination to believe that rheu- 
matism may pass from the parent to the child. Hereditary rheuma- 
tism is much more difficult to cure than others. Yet it is not neces 
sarily incurable. A r o hereditary disease is necessarily incurable. 

Treatment. — A multiplicity of remedies have been resorted to in 



244 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



the treatment of rheumatism. It is doubtful if the disease was ever 
cured by mineral drugs. It is certain that no specific has heretofore 
been discovered. The disease has never been steadily obedient to 
any remedial plan. Guiacum, colchicum. croton oil, conium, mercury 
opium and the alkalies have been tried by the Allopathic school 
of physicians, with variable results, but generally to show the ineffi- 
ciency of these drugs in this painful disease. Aconite, Belladonna, 
Bayronia, Arnica, Chamomile, Mercurius, Nux Vomica, Pulsatillo, 
Tbux, Toxicodendron, Colchicum, Dulcumara, Heper-sulpur, Sulphur, 
Lycopodium, Plumbum, etc., used by the Homeopaths, have been at- 
tended generally in the fluctuating and unsatisfactory results. 

External applications, as blisters, anodyne liniments, stimulating 
embrocations, only act locally, benumbing the sensibility of -the part, 
and therefore can never remove the constitutional cause of the disorder. 
Indeed, they often render the case far more serious by causing it to 
meiastatise to some internal organ. The heariis very liable to become 
affected, by the system being badly drugged, inducing enlargement, 
hypertrophy, etc. The younger the child, the greater the danger 
both from the disease and the poisons given. 

The application of silk oil-cloth, thin sheets of gutta-percha, or 
India rubber to the part most effected, with a view to promote an 
exhalation from the part, is an egregrious fallacy, founded in a lack of 
an understanding of the nature and pathology of the disease. They 
only tend to aggravate the disorder. The water treatment, is perhaps, 
the most unreliable and worthless of all others. Cold water is not 
adapted to a cold or lymphatic diathesis, while hot water is not the 
legitimate way to relieve/ever or exanthematous disorders. 

There is but one way to cure this painful disease. We must first 
rectify the derangements of the digestive apparatus. The stomach 
must be made to secrete the gastric juices in a natural manner, the 
liver must fulfil its legitimate function, in distributing healthy bile for 
the filtration or chylification of the food and preparation of the ele- 
ments of the blood, prior to its (the blood) being taken up by the 
lacteals and veins, conveyed to the heart and finally purified of its 
carbonic acid, by its ejection from the lungs, on the admission of the 
oxygen of the atmosperic air, which alone can ensure the rich Vermil- 
lion blood that traverses the arteries and nourishes every part of the 
body, supplying bone, nerve, flesh, and other tissues and by these 
means producing harmonious action of all the organs, proper secre- 



MEDICAL GUIDE. " ~ 245 



tions from all the glands, securing a clear skin, a ruddy complexion, 
and every condition incident to sound health and an active nervous 
development oi the human being. 

Just such a remedy is now offered to the community. It consists 
of a compound of vegetable products, expressly adapted to act upon 
every organ of the body, including the nerves, bones, muscles, viscera, 
etc., insuring rapid recovery of every diseased structure, the proper 
or normal function of every organ, and, by consequence, the fullest 
health and vigor of the afflicted individual. The compound is eminent r 
ly a pain kiJler. removing promptly every inflamatory indication, and 
every vestige of the Rheumatic diathesis. A cure is guaranteed in all 
cases, where the remedy is x regularly taken and the directions impli- 
citly obeyed, no matter how inveterate and long-standing the disease. 

Persons afflicted, should state the full particulars of their cases, age, 
temperaments, location of habitation, business pursuits, personal 
habits etc., when they will receive a course of medicine expressly 
adapted to meet every indication of each individual case. The price 
of the course of Medicine is ten dollars, accompanied with full direc- 
tions, including the kind of diet, etc. All orders promptly filled on 
receipt of the price and the medicine forwarded by Express, or other- 
wise as may be directed. Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York. 

The Liver and its Diseases. 

Anatomical Structure and Functions of the Liver, and its as- 
sociate organs. Diseases — causes — treatment, etc. 

The liver, perhaps, is the most important organ of the whole human 
organism. Without the proper exercise of its legitimate functions, 
food could not be digested, nor blood be found, which is the most es- 
sential element of all animal existences. This great truth does not 
rest on mere inferential authority. The fact is most explicitly and 
unequivocally declared in the pages of Holy Writ. "For the blood is 
the life." Deut. xii. 23. " In the life of the flesh is in the blood. 17 Levit. 
xvii. 11. " For the life of all flesh is the blood thereof" Levit. xvii. 
14. " He shall pour out their blood, for it is the life of all flesh. J/ 
Levit. xvii. 13, 14. 

Not only does the Bible declare that the " life of the flesh is in the 



246 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



blood," and is the blood," but Physiology and Chemistry establish the 
fact without contradiction. The blood assisted, by air, food, light, 
warmth, and exercise, is thus proven to be the fountain source of hu- 
man and all other animal existences. The elaboration of blood is 
very peculiar. There are many processes to be undergone before 
this vital is fit to enter the general circulation, thus ensuring health, 
strength and beauty of the creature. We know that the food when 
taken into the stomuch is subject to a process of digestion (see article 
on dyspepsia), which converts the nourishing part of it into a milky 
fluid called chyle, this being the basis of the black or venous blood. 
This blood often undergoing certain measurably filtering processes 
is then pushed through the veins in a dark and heavy stream, into the 
right side of the heart, whence it is again forced, by minute ramifica- 
tions into every part of the lungs. In this wonderful labratory of the 
lungs, its character is totally changed. The carbonic acid gas, with 
which it has become loaded, is thrown off, and atmospheric air received 
to supply its place. Under the influence of their oxygen or vital air, 
communicated by the air vessels of the lungs, the blood now becomes 
of a bright red or vermillion color, and passing through the left side 
of the heart, is fitted to feed, nourish, and sustain the various parts 
and organs of the body, the same being transmitted to them by means 
of the arteries and their capillaries. Thus, the gastric and pancreatic 
juices ; the milk ; the sebacic acid ; the bile ; the urine ; theprussic, 
zoonic, formic and bombic acids ; the hard parts of animals ; the 
humors of the eye, cartilages ; brain ; synovia ; tears ; mucus of the 
nose ; corumer of the ears ; saliva ; pus ; semen ; sweat ; liquor 
anmii ; eggs ; hairs ; feathers ; silk, and all the secretions, spring 
from this common fountain. In fact, there is not a fibre of the body 
of which blood is not a component and highly important part. Hence 
the quantity pnd quality of the blood have a very material iufluence 
in engendering disease or ensuring the good health of the general 
organism. This fact must be palpable to the commonest understand- 
ing. It is evident that all poisonous impurities in the circulating 
medium tend directly to plant the seeds of death and disease in the 
human system. Hence health cannot fully be enjoyed unless the 
blood is kept in a rich and uncorrupted state. Thus the necessity of 
pure blood to give health, beauty, long life and happiness is apparent. 
It is not too much to assert that more than one-half of the human 
race on the globe are afflicted with evils arising from derangement of 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



247 



the liver and impurities of the blood. Consumption, scrofula, erysi- 
pelas, cancers and tumors, salt rheum ; heart, liver and lung af- 
fections ; spinal disease, debility, fits, kidney and womb affections : 
insanity, physical and mental infirmities, and diseases of other kinds, 
carrying off millions of people every year, including a preponderat- 
ing number of young children, all arise from impurities of the blood 

The blood, is in fact, the very balsamic essence of animal existence. 
No human being ever had a drop of it to spare ! It was never made 
to be spilled ! As a matter of course, the destruction of human life 
at the hands of legalized mankillers, by bleeding, has been a heavy 
and heedless tax on health and population. The lancet has destroyed 
more lives than the sword ! The physician who pursues the abomin- 
able practice of phlebotomy, should be regarded as a murdering 
quack, worthy of the execration of all humanity and deserving of 
punishment by hanging on the gallows? Surely, if the voices of the 
victims of quackery who have been slain by the stinging lancet could 
be heard in concert, the very earth would quiver and reel beneath 
the shriek of " Murder ! Murder V J 

Thus showing the necessity of good, sweet, and wholesome blood, 
to ensure buoyant health, beauty and longevity, we may now attempt 
to give some idea of the structure and functions of the liver and the 
kindred organs, by which blood is engendered and circulated through- 
out the entire animal economy. 

The Liver and its Associate Organs. — The liver is the largest or- 
gan in the human body. Its color is a deep red. It is situated be- 
neath the ribs on the right side, the left lobe extending considerably 
to the left side over the stomach. Its upper surface is convex and 
smooth, the lower concave and uneven. It is thick and massy on the 
right side, and thin on the other, being bountifully supplied with 
blood vessels, nerves, and absorbents. 

The peculiar office of the liver is to prepare and secrete the bile. 
It also serves as a filter to separate impurities and refine the blood. 

The gall-bladder is an indispensible adjunct of the liver, being at- 
tached to its under side. It is shaped like a shot-pouch, and contains 
between one and two ounces of gall, which is deposited by the liver. 
A long, slender pipe or tube extends from it to the abdomen or sec- 
ond stomach, (sometimes, also the first portion of the intestines) into 
which it pours the bile, a few inches below the pyloric orifice, (or 
tube leading from the stomach to the duodenum. The purposes of 



248 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 

the bile is to stimulate the intestines and separate the chyle from the 
excrements. 

Bileary Ducts. — As before remarked, the bile is generated in the 
liver. It is then carried by a large number of small pipes or tubes 
to the hepatic ducts or tubes. This unites with the cystic and forms 
the common duct, conveying the bile into the duodenum, or upper 
intestine. The hepathic duct comes from the liver, and the cystic 
from the gall-bladder. The bifurcation and union of the two, form 
the common duct, which conveys the mixed fluids or juices of the or- 
gans to the duodenum where it further mascerates the food received 
from the stomach, by the way of the pyloric orifice, and reduces it to 
a yellowish compound, of about the consistency of thick cream or 
bu termilk. 

The bile thus secreted by the liver, is usually called the " gall." It 
is of a yellowish green color, of a soapy nature, of a peculiar smell, 
and exceedingly bitter. This compound is composed of water, albu- 
men, soda, phosphate of lime, common salt, phosphate of soda, lime, and 
other peculiar substances whose character is not definitely determin- 
ed. The office of this compound fluid seems to be to separate the 
nutritious part of the food frcm that which is coarse and useless, 
while at the same time it keeps up that peristaltic or churning mo- 
tion of the bowels which is necessary to force forward the refuse 
matter towards the rectum and eject it from the system by the orifice 
of the anus. 

Spleen. — The color of the substance of this organ is a dark red, 
sometimes like the liver. It is situated on the rkht side of the body 
under the stomach. It is broad as the palm of the hand, and one or 
two inches thick. It is in contact with the stomach on the left side. 
Its use is not well understood, but it would seem to have some influ- 
ence in molifying the quantity and quality of the gastric juice poured 
into the stomach, from numerous follicles, as a solvent of the food 
received into its cavity. 

The pancreas, sometimes called "sweetbread" is a glandular body, 
of a pale red color, like the tongue of a dog, being eight or ten 
inches long. It lies behind the stomach, directly across the spine. 
It secretes a fluid resembling saliva, which is poured into the duo- 
denum, mingling with the bile, forms a peculiar juice that is especial- 
ly requisite to secure the proper digestion of the food. The pan- 
creatic duct enters the duodenum along with the bileary ducts, the 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 249 



two fluids (bile and pancreatic juice) meeting at an entrance at the 
first curvature of the intestine, at about one third of its whole length 
from the stomach. The bile and pancreatic juice, as already intim- 
ated, thus poured out together, are both requisite for the formation 
of chyle, and undoubtedly modify the action of each other. The 
bile being somewhat of an unctuous nature and the pancreatic juice 
somewhat alkaline, their union forms a sort of saponaceus com- 
pound, which mitigates the natural irritating character of pure bile 
and causes it more easy incorporation with the chyme. 

The office of the liver and its adjunct organs are really identical 
They must all work in harmony, otherwise there will be disorder of 
the functions of the whole, entailing many distressing diseases not 
only upon the respective organs themselves, but upon the entire ani- 
mal economy. It is indespensably necessary to health that the liver 
should perform its functions in a natural manner. If diseased, it 
cannot purify the blood, or separate the refuse elements of food from 
that portion which is nutritious and necessary to produce wholesome 
blood. If impure blood is sent to the lungs, brain and other parts, a 
morbid condition is induced, causing consumption, insanity, etc., as 
already detailed. While, should it withhold its natural stimulas (the 
bile) to the intestines, dyspepsia, piles : and other distressing com- 
plaints will speedily ensue. It is accordingly the duty of every in- 
dividual to keep the liver in a healthy condition by every means in 
his power, and when it becomes diseased, to seek that remedy which 
will the most quickly and certainly restore its normal function and 
secure its harmonious action with all the other organs of the body. 

Diseases of the Liver. — Of all the viscera, the liver is regarded as 
one of the most importance. It is the central organ of the hepatic 
artery, the vena portae, the biliary duct and the hepatic vein. It is 
the largest gland in the body, weighing about four pounds, and as 
before remarked, extends from the right to the left hypochondrium, 
being situated obliquely in the abdomen, its convex surface looking 
upward and forward, and its concave, downward and backward. It is 
sustained by strong ligaments to the diaphragm and adjacent parts, 
its chief office is to secrete bile which is poured from the gall-blad- 
der into the duodenum, (or second stomach.) a few inches below the 
paunch or regular stomach, which first receives the food. 

As a matter of course, the liver and associate organs are liable to 



250 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



become disordered, entailing many diseases upon the human organ- 
ism. Among those are : — 

Hepatitis.— Inflamation of the Liver. — Hepatitis is a Greek word, 
meaning liver. It is a name given to a disease either of the substance 
or covering of the liver, of a febrile character, attended with pain in 
the right hypochondrium, often acute like that of pleurisy, but more 
frequently dull and obtuse. Often the pains shoot to the back and 
right shoulder, and is increased on pressure, while there is difficulty 
in lying on the left side. It sometimes induces jaundice, w r ith cough 
and general fever. There are anorexia, nausea, sickness, constipation, 
a colorless state of the feces, with yellow or high colored urine. 

Acute inflamation of the liver, usually terminates in resolution, but 
often times in suppuration. This is more especially the case in warm 
climates. 

Abscesses form, and sometimes throw off an enormous amount of 
corruption or putrid matter. It is wonderful, indeed, to observe the 
ways by which Nature overcomes these difficulties. Sometimes she 
fastens the liver to the walls of the abdomen, causing the abscess to 
point externally, so that the matter comes out at the side. Some- 
times the adhesion takes place at the stomach, causing the pus to be 
thrown off by this medium. Sometimes the liver glues itself fast to 
the intestines, the abscess discharging its corruption through the 
channel of the bowels. In some cases, the pus is discharged into the 
gall-bladder. Not unfrequently, also, the liver fastens itself to the 
midriff, or diaphragm, (the parchment-like partition which separates 
the lungs and heart from the stomach and liver) the lung at the same 
time adhering to the upper surface of the diaphragm. The abscess 
then points upwards, and soon making a hole through the diaphragm 
into the lung, discharges the offending matter through the medium 
of the bronchial tubes. In such cases, the disease is often mistaken 
for consumption, the immense quantity of matter thrown off, leading 
one to suppose that the lungs were extensively disordered or tuber- 
culated, whereas they remain perfectly healthy, the liver being the 
sole cause of the alarming difficulty. 

There are some rare instances where the abscess points at the back 
instead of the front or the side. These cases have been mistaken for 
lumbar abscess, a malady usually of a formidable and serious character. 
Sometimes the matter is discharged with the urine. 

In many instances, nature is unable to expel the morbid matter 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



251 



from the system, in which event, the patient sinks with a great closed 
abscess in the parts ; or the pus being forced into the cavity of the 
abdomen, and having no vent, soon destroys life. 

A chronic form of inflamation of the liver often follows the acute. 
It is also sometimes accompanied by dropsy of the abdomen. There 
may be likewise a chronic hardening of the liver, a condition apt to 
occur as a result of hepatitis, and may take place without any notice- 
able inflamation of the parts. The liver also not unfr< quently wastes, 
as a result of tight-lacing. No organ, in fact, is so susceptible of 
changes and size and form as this. It is likewise liable to become 
cancerous and tuberculous, like other viscera, and to degenerate into' 
a fatty mass, called fatty liver. Calculi of the liver is perhaps the most 
painful of all diseases. There is also a kind of disease known as 
* k gin liver," or *• br ndy liver," caused by the excessive use of 
spirits, in whatever form taken. A better name for this disorder 
would be " alcoholic liver." It consists in a very formidable harden- 
ing and derangement of the organ. 

Diagnosis. — The acute form of inflamation of the liver comes on 
with pain in the right hypochondrium, extending to the right shoulder 
and between the shoulder blades. The pains are much increased by 
pressure on the parts ; and there is an inability to lie on the left, side 
in consequence of a pulling, dragging pain in the right side. It is 
frequently accompanied with cough and difficulty in breathing, thirst 
and loss of appetite. The bowels are constipated ; the evacuations 
clay-colored, the urine scanty and high-colored, giving to the linen a 
saffron stain. When the disease becomes chronic, the skin assumes a 
yellow or orange hue ; the eye icterode. while there are indigestion 
and flatulency of the stomach, with dull pain in the side, dis.nclina- 
tion to mental or physical exertion, together with langor and prone- 
ness to sleep. These symptoms, however, are sometimes so mild, as 
scarcely to attract attention, even when the organ is very seriously 
affected. Large abscesses have frequently been found in the liver, 
in post mortem examinations, without the patient having suffered 
any inconvenience from it while living. 

Causes. — Whatever induces inflamation of the other organs will 
cause inflamation and derangements of the liver. Sudden exposure 
after heat to cold, by determining from the surface to the organ, 
disturb the functions of the liver and cause irritation and consequent 
inflamation of the part. Contusions and blows ; certain passions of 



252 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



the mind ; long continued intermittent and remittent fevers ; an in- 
discriminate use of remedies for the cure of such fevers, are causes of 
liver complaints; likewise, suddenly suppressed bilious diarrhoeas ; 
concretions in the substances of the liver or the excretory duct, such 
as gall-stones ; summer heat ; hot climate ; the abuse of intoxicating 
drinks ; the use of mineral poisons, such as mercury and arsenic, all 
predispose to distressing disorders of the liver. Improper food, or 
that which is indigestible, and therefore innutricious, with lack of 
suitable exercise, also, vitiate the normal character of the secretions 
and Live rise to hepatitis and other painful and inveterate maladies 
of this great filtering apparatus of the animal organism. 

Bilious attacks are always a concomitant of disordered liver. 
There are usually intense headache, heavily furred, yellowish-dark 
tongue, some fever, debility, etc. Those who live in a highly malari- 
ous region, are very liable to bilious complications of the system. 

Icterus, or Jaundice, is another disorder engendered of a diseased 
condition uf the liver and its associate organs. The word jaundice, 
signifies yellow, from the French word jaune, signifying the same thing. 
The medical name of this disease is icterus which was once the name 
of the golden thrush. It was so called because it was supposed that 
if a person having the disease looked at the bird he would be cured. 
In brutes, it is called the "yellows." The affection usually happens 
in connection with other diseases of the liver. Sometimes, however, 
it appears to be of itself, and distinct. It is incident to all ages. It 
frequently occurs in infants a few days after birth, doubtless induced 
by wrong diet and other habits of the mother during the childbearing 
period. 

Symptoms. — There is yellowness in the skin, eyes, roots of the nails, 
and the urine. This peculiar tinge arises from the liver not perform- 
ing its functions properly, the bile coursing about the circulation, 
thus vitiating the red corpuscles of the blood, and giving the skin 
and other parts of the body, the yellowish hue. The yellow color 
sometimes varies to olive and green. There is not only " yellow jaun- 
dice,'- but there are black and green complications of the disorder. 
Sometimes the patients assert that they see yellow. The feces are 
usually of a light color, owing to the absence of bile. There are 
languor, nausea, dead weight at the epigastrium, and often a severe 
itching of the whole surface. The causes of jaundice are anything: 
which makes one bilious, or which is calculated to impair or disturb 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 253 



the regular functions of the liver. Many persons die of this disease. 
Black and green jaundice always denote danger. Some physicians 
assert that persons never recover from these forms of disease. This 
is certainly the fact when treated by mercury and other mineral 
remedies, but not the case when treated by those vegetable remedies 
which are calculated to ensure a proper digestion of food, promote 
the flow of the juices of the liver and associate organs, and enrich 
and purify the blood. The pan:reas and spleen are liable to nearly 
the same affections as the liver, the systems and causes, however, 
being little understood, although doubtless, owing to irregular 
habits, bad food, and whatever affect the qualities of the gastric se- 
cretions. 

Tkeatmext. — As in all other inflamatory diseases, the first object is 
to lessen the determination of blood to the part infl imed, by equalizing 
the circulation. This can never be done by bleeding, or by the employ- 
ment of mercury, arsenic and other mineral substances. Mineral 
remedies always do more harm than good. If they seem to afford 
temporary relief, in some cases, they are sure to aggravate subse- 
quently the original disorder, or induce complications of the most in- 
veterate and distressing character. He is a bungler in medical prac- 
tice, who attempts to subdue influmatory action by blood-letting. In- 
flamation is alway a result of an unequal flow of blood throughout 
the system. Where 4he circulation is regular, or free and uninter- 
rupted, disease is impossible. Such free circulation indicates that 
the blood is rich and pure, and of ihe proper consistence in elemen- 
tary affinities, and that the red and white corpuscles are relatively 
and harmoniously mixed or associated in the precious fluid, so essen- 
tial to the presentation of sound health and the preservation of dis- 
ease and untimely death. 

As already intimated, the employment of mineral remedies, is ut- 
terly useless, if not positively pernicious and destructive of the vital 
integrity of the organism. Such is likewise the case, in the use of 
improper vegetable medicines, by physicians unskilled in the pecu- 
liar characteristics and pathology of liver complaints. In view of 
these palpable facts, and perceiving the necessity of devising a cer- 
tain means to cleanse the stream of polluted blood, the author has 
penetrated the arcaua of nature, studied closely her immutable 
laws, delved into the mysteries of chemistry and organic life, till he 
is now enabled to offer a purely vegetable remedy, scientifically com- 



254 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



pounded, and most eminently calculated to speedily cure all disorders 
of the liver from whatever causes they may have arisen. These 
medicines have already withstood the violent assaults of physicians, 
largely abolished the use of mineral poisons in such diseases, and re- 
stored thousands to ruddy and vigorous health, who had long linger- 
ed under the effects of liver diseases, suffering intense agony and 
despairing of even a partial mitigation of their distressing maladies. 
They are composed of widely different vegetable ingredients, but 
such as are homogenious or calcalated to incite and maintain the 
flow of all normal juices of the body — at once subduing disease at its 
fountain head — the blood — and thus accomplishing cures, where all 
other remedies are signally inefficient. The remedies emphatically 
operate as a Mood Renovator, not only promoting digestion, but 
causing the liver, gall-bladder, pancreas, etc., to work harmoniously 
together, yielding their juices, to dissolve the food and separate its 
grosser or useless particles from those which are nutritious, thus se- 
curing pure rich red blood, and ensuring the soundest health, bril- 
liant beauty of skin and complexion, and the utmost longevity and 
happiness. 

The author does not pretend that any one remedy is a " cure all" 
for the various complications of liver diseases. His remedies are ex- 
pressly adapted to every individual case. They embrace a series or 
course of medication, that never fails to reach every vital organ of 
the entire system, and by restoring the regular action and harmony o€ 
the whole, remove every vestige of disease. 

Patients are required to furnish a full statement of their respective 
cases, symptoms, age, sex, pursuits of life, habits, temperaments,, 
idiosyncracies, and other peculiarities, so as to ensure that combina- 
tion of medicines, as will infallibly promote a cure in the shortest pos- 
sible period. 

There are, however, many chronic cases of a very obstinate and 
inveterate character. These may require a longer time to effectually 
break them up and restore the normal health of the patient. The 
price of a course of medicine is ten dollars, to be invariably ac- 
companied with the order for the remedies. Address, Dr. A. G. 
Levy & Co., New York City. 



MEDICAL GUIDE. 



255 



Catarrhal Affections. 



To find a person entirely free from Catarrhal Affection is an excep- 
tion to what is known as a general rule. Catarrh directly or indi- 
rectly is the result of more diseases and annoyances than any one 
person is prepared to imagine. It is the result of colds taken so in- 
sidiously under all circumstances, and aggravated by every additional 
cold, that its effects, though at first they be but a small germ of ill 
omen like that of an obnoxious weed in a bed of fragrant flowers, on 
account of its apparent insignificance, and because the gardener can- 
not see it spring forth and does not understand that its name is evil, 
that its mission is misery, suffering and death— therefore he neglects 
it till its poisonous roots become well embedded and extend them- 
selves through every sinus, through every orifice and organ, and the 
head that before was clear, is now a cloudy day — a perpetual ba- 
rometer — the eye that before was bright, has now become sick, or 
the ear which was once so acute has now become dull. The tubes of 
Eustachius which formerly maintained between the internal organ of 
sound and the external world an equilibrium have now become fill- 
ed or partly so with the secretions of this catarrhal monster. 
Who now like the deadly Upas tree. 
To poison turns all that within its shadows be. 
And because its pathegenetic symptoms are as numerous as the forest 
leaves, yoii must not think they all apply to you — for it is a torment 
that comes in so many questionable as well as unquestionable forms, 
that its symptoms are legion, and I can give but a few, some of 
which will apply to any case. 1st. Of the head — tingling, itching, 
with sense of dryness and obstruction of the nose, sneezing, running 
of a watery secretion ; as it progresses the secretion becomes mucus, 
entire obstruction of one or both nostrils, hawking, tickling of the 
throat, coughing, etc. 2d. Catarrh of the Chest — Prevails as an epi- 
demic sometimes, and is called influenza, with or without fever, and 
many of the symptoms just mentioned : there is oppression across the 
fa-east, rawness and burning of the throat, first dry, afterwards a co- 
pious secretion of mucus, which may become opaque or frothy, diffi- 
culty of breathing, pain in the head, and dull feeling, sense of sore- 
ness extending under the breast bone to the stomach pit ; the fits of 



256 THE MAGIC WAND, AND 



coughing may occasion vomiting, oppression and prostration : as th8 
disease progresses the sputa becomes ropy and vesciel. This disease 
is also called Grippe by some. Catarrhal Inflammation of the Eyes 
arises from cold, causes obstruction of the tear passages, watery 
eyes, fistula lachrymalis, dimness of vision, etc. Suppressed Catarrh 
— May produce inflamation of the lungs, brain or eyes, or give rise to 
rheumatism, nervous disorders, weeping, moaning, tremors and con- 
vulsions, drowsiness, chillness, starting, twitching, palpitation of the 
heart, etc. When the frontal sinuses above the eyes, posterior and 
anterior nasal passages become clogged up, and even the antrum or 
cavity of the cheek Done becomes filled or partly, it often produces 
a pressure on the nerves that supply these parts, and pains like the 
most excrntiating neuralgia is the result. This disease follows the 
mucus membrane the Eustachian tubes to all the parts of the same 
membrane of the ear, causing hypertrophy of the drum, interferes 
with the functions of the glands of Wharton, which secrete the wax ; 
a dryness follows, hardness of hearing, roaring, buzzing, singing, 
whistling, crackling, the ringing of bells and similar noises, which 
vary, and which are simple effects — and, when the cause is removed 
the effects cease, this hardness of hearing increases by each addition- 
al cold, though not perceptible at the time, it cannot be denied, after 
the lapse of time, how Catarrh and all of its sequela is tampered 
with by everybody, by some external remedies of no consequence, 
or large doses of sickening and injurious drugs are used, which have 
no relation to the disease, and produce a thousand other ills, while 
the writer cures it by simple remedies, that flourish in abundance in 
most every field, and are prepared by Dr. A. G. Levy Co., New York, 
so pleasantly, and administered so skillfully, as to make it a pleasure 
to use them, and they can be, and are sent to all parts of the United 
States, prepaid by mail, in packages of from three to five dollars 
worth on receipt of symptoms, and price. Though many or all you 
have tried may have failed, remember that Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., are 
physicians, who have had the medical advantages of every civilized 
country. Their unbounded success and immense practice from all 
parts of the United States are the strongest kind of testimonials of 
their skill. Address, Dr. A. G. Levy & Co., New York City. * 



APR. 15. 1881 



D 



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On, 





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